Two countries, which don’t have the best political relations. Pakistan and India. At the Attari-Wagah Border Ceremony , which is happening every day, they are facing each other, how is it like?
Where is it located?
Like it stands in the name already, it is located at the Pakistani city Wagah and the Indian city Attari. It is near the 2nd biggest city in Pakistan, Lahore and near to the big city Amritsar in India.
North east in Pakistan and north west in India, to have a better idea, where you can find it.
When is it and how much does it cost?
It is happening every day, the time depends, if it is summer or winter. When it is winter, then the ceremony takes place between 4:15 pm and 5:00pm. In summer it happens from 5:15pm to 6:00pm.
The event is for free, you just need to get there on time, so that you are getting a seat, the first one is getting it! We were around 30-45 minutes earlier there.
What is it?
The ceremony is basically a military practice. Both the Indian and Pakistani sides are performing the same thing. It is a ceremony of lowering the flags of each nation.
During this process, both sides, the Border Security Forces from India and the Pakistan Rangers are performing a fast dance and as you are able to see, both sides try to lift the legs as high as possible.
The border is getting opened, the flags of both nations are getting lowered. After the flag is down, they are carrying the flag back into the country, until the morning. The borders are getting closed again
What to expect?
You can expect a lot of national pride. The atmosphere is just wild. When I was there, sadly there were just Pakistanis allowed to enter the event. The Indian side was because of Covid was not filled with people.
Flags are everywhere and it is loud, people are screaming and you can hear music as well. When the Indians are there as well, both sides are trying to support their country as best as possible and want to try being louder than the other.
The Border Forces and Rangers are all really tall and the performance you are going to experience is something you probably haven’t seen before.
The stadium is not that huge, due to that, it is possible to see everything from a not big distance.
My experience
We drove with four people to the border from Lahore. While getting through the terrible traffic, we made it on time, around 30-45 min before. The stadium filled quickly and was filled completely. The locas were happy to see some foreigners supporting their country and being part of this tradition. General locals in Pakistan were happy to see foreigners.
Pakistan was screamed at by a guy, who was there to motivate the people, Zindabad was screamed back. It is a really common saying in Pakistan. It means basically long live Pakistan, it is patriotic, but people make it really happy, when it gets said.
Slowly the performance was starting and it was just impressive to see how high they can make their legs! Generally speaking it was impressive seeing the whole show, and what is even more impressive, both sides are doing the exact same thing.
Both sides are practicing each day together, to make it as best as possible. During the ceremony they are enemies, but during the day, they spend a lot of time together and understand each other well.
It was a crazy moment, when the border was open, for two countries like this, it is just unusual to basically see an open border. The flag was taken down and after that the border was closed again. The flags of each country were carried away, under the security of the rangers, to be safe until the next morning.
After the ceremony was done, it was possible to take pictures with the Rangers, which were just huge! They need to be a specific height, to be able to be part of it.
Summary
Two countries which politically hate each other are doing a ceremony over the last decades together every day. It shows the spirit against each other, but on the other it gives a feeling that both of them are similar to each other. It was great being part of it, just sad, that only one side of visitors were there.
I will go there one more time again, but from the other side, to experience both.
When you are in one of both countries, it is definitely something, which should be visited, it is worth it! The atmosphere is great and it feels good to be part of it.
I personally just hope that the relations between both countries are turning better in the future, because the people of both countries are lovely and great to get to know!
Second largest salt mine is also possible seeing in Pakistan, check it out as well.
I would love to hear your experiences about this place, or questions. Share it with me in the comments.
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