Independence Day: No exchange of sweets and gifts at Wagah this year

This year, BSF has decided to not accept any such gifts to protest the series of terrorist attacks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir over the past month. “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,” said BSG IG Punjab Frontier Anil Paliwal. He suggested that the ‘prevailing situation’ along the border prevented the BSF from showing any “soft gestures” to the Pakistani Rangers.

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“Neither sweets nor gifts will be offered or taken on August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day and on August 15, the day when India got freedom in 1947. The decision has been communicated to field formations,” a senior BSF officer said.

The souring of ties and customary courtesies between the two countries was recently seen when Pakistan refused a similar Indian gesture during Eid festivities last month.

Border guarding forces of the two countries have been following a tradition of exchanging sweets on national festivals and other events at the IB in Jammu and along the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar in Punjab and few other locations in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

(with PTI inputs)