On 17th August 1947, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the chairman of Border Commissions drew the Radcliffe Line, the official line of demarcation between India and Pakistan, equally dividing the 175,000 square miles (450,000 km2) of territory with 88 million people, just near the village of Wagah. The line today serves on the western side as the Indo-Pakistani border and as the India-Bangladesh border on the eastern side. The Wagah Border, a part of the Grand Trunk Road, once the only entry-way to Pakistan, is a tourist spot where one can witness the Wagah Border ceremony involving soldiers from both sides at sunset everyday.
The ceremony is to mark the lowering of national flags at the border and the Indian Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers have upheld the tradition since 1959. The ceremony, on special national occasions involves the exchange of sweets and over the years the practice has been followed. However this year, after the Pakistani side refused the annual Eid sweets from the India due to mounting tensions between the two nations, India has taken a stand against do so on the coming Independence days of the two nations. Michael Palin sure has had the last laugh, for he once described the ceremony to be, “. . . carefully choreographed contempt.”
BSG IG Punjab Frontier Anil Paliwal told Indian Express, “There is going to be no exchange this year at the Wagah border. Neither are we going to offer nor will we accept any gift.” This comes after the continued breach of security the BSF jawans have faced this year, with infiltration from the Pakistani side. The two recent terrorist attempts involving infiltration led to the Gurdaspur attack, killing 10 and the terrorist attack on an Army convoy in Udhampur, Jammu. Will the two nations unite in their bid to fight terror collectively? Time shall tell. For now, the BSF has decided to not take the attack on Indian frontiers sitting down.
