BSF gives Pakistan Rangers sweets at Punjab border

ATTARI BORDER - Celebrating the 63rd anniversary of India’s independence, the Border Security Force (BSF) Sunday presented sweets to its Pakistani counterparts at the Attari-Wagah joint check post between the two countries here.

BSF Inspector General (Punjab Frontier) Himmat Singh presented the packets of sweets to representatives of the Pakistan Rangers.

“We are all brothers and sisters and this is our gesture to express solidarity and brotherhood with Pakistan. We hope that in the coming days all tensions will fade away between the two countries,” Himmat Singh told IANS.

Tens of hundreds of enthusiasts, carrying the Indian national flag in hands, had also gathered near the Attari-Wagah border to be a part of the celebrations.

Earlier Saturday, on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day, Pakistan Rangers’ director general Mohammad Yaqub presented sweets to BSF commandant Sumir Singh.

Besides, at an hour when most people across India would have been sleeping, thousands of people converged at the Attari-Wagah joint check post Saturday night to be part of the midnight celebrations for India’s 64th Independence Day.

Singers and other performers entertained the crowds with patriotic and other songs late Saturday evening to mark the occasion.

India-Pakistan Dosti Manch peace activists led by veteran journalist Kuldeep Nayar and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, along with a few other prominent people, later marched up to the zero line along the international border between both countries with peace candles.

Tehe BSF, which mans the 553-km long barbed wire fenced international border between India and Pakistan in Punjab, had beefed up security around the joint check post for the event.

The cultural function was held at Attari village, about 300 metres from the border gates.

Mahesh Bhatt, Kuldeep Nayar and other peaceniks have been lighting peace candles at the border on every Independence Day for the last few years.