Amritsar : BSF Independence Day celebrations Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers dance during Independence Day celebrations at the India-Pakistan joint check post at the Wagah border on the outskirts of Amritsar. Reuters
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday celebrated Independence Day in Amritsar but there was no ceremonial exchange of sweets with the Pakistani Rangers. BSF DIG Mohd M F Farooqi took part in an event organised on the occasion of 69th Independence Day at Attari where the tricolour was hoisted. Functions were held by the BSF at various border out posts along Punjab’s 553-km long International Border with Pakistan.
No exchange of sweets took place between the BSF and the Pakistani Rangers at the Attari-Wagah joint check post, a BSF officer said. BSF IG, Anil Paliwal had announced earlier that the BSF will neither be offering nor accepting sweets from its counterpart this year. His announcement came in the wake of two recent terror attacks in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur, Punjab and Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per past practice, each year, the BSF has been accepting sweets from Pakistan on August 14, the neighbouring country’s Independence Day and offering sweets to them on India’s Independence Day on August 15. Meanwhile, the Indian Customs officials accepted sweets from their Pakistani counterparts on Friday and offered them sweets on Saturday, a Customs official said on condition of anonymity.
PTI