No Beating Retreat ceremony at Attari border as India-Pak tensions rise
The glittering Beating Retreat ceremony, held traditionally at the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar between India and Pakistan, was suspended on Wednesday amid rising tensions between the two countries.
Tensions further flared between the two neighbouring countries after Indian forces carried out precision airstrikes under Operation Sindoor against terror launchpads in Pakistan and POK, in retaliation to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians on April 22.
After the Beating Retreat ceremony was suspended, several Indian tourists who had come to the Attari border to witness the spectacle were left disappointed and were asked to leave.
However, they were still in high spirits and supported the government's move of a major military retaliation against Pakistan and its terror factories.
"We appreciate the action taken by the Indian troops and PM Modi. It was great action. Pehalgam ka Badla le liya (Pahalgam is avenged)," tourists visiting Amritsar from Gujarat and Maharashtra said in unison.
Notably, the Beating Retreat ceremony is the only coordinated parade between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers, with people from both sides thronging the site to witness the show.
Days after the Pahalgam attack, the BSF chose to make its anger known by neither opening the gates of the Attari border nor having a customary handshake with the Pakistani Rangers during the ceremony.
The parade commander of the Indian contingent also did not walk forward to shake hands with his Pakistani counterpart during the ceremony, which was attended by scores of people on both sides.
Several Indians, including Army veterans, geostrategic experts and politicians, also called for the ceremony to be stopped altogether.
The Attari-Wagah was closed as part of India's five specific retaliatory measures against Pakistan taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) a day after the attack.
India and Pakistan's paramilitary forces, the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers, respectively, have engaged in the ceremony since 1959.
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