Wagah (; ; ), also spelled Wagha or Wahga, is a village and

union council Union council may refer to: *Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of t ...

(UC 181) located in the Wahga Zone near Lahore City District,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

.The Punjab Gazette
/ref> The town is famous for the

Wagah border ceremony Wagah (; ; ), also spelled Wagha or Wahga, is a village and union council (UC 181) located in the Wahga Zone near Lahore City District, Pakistan. The town is famous for the Wagah border ceremony and also serves as a goods transit terminal a ...

and also serves as a goods transit terminal and a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

between

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Wagah is situated west of the border and lies on the historic

Grand Trunk Road Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...

between

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

. The border is located from

and from

. It is also from the bordering village of

Attari Attari, also spelled Atari, is a village of Amritsar district in the Punjab state of India, 3 km from the Indo-Pakistani border at Wagah. It is situated 25 km west of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and is the last Indian station o ...

in India. The Wagah flag-lowering ceremony – by the border security personnel of

(

Pakistan Rangers The Pakistan Rangers () are a pair of paramilitary federal law enforcement corps' in Pakistan. The two corps are the Punjab Rangers (operating in Punjab province with headquarters in Lahore) and the Sindh Rangers (operating in Sindh province w ...

) and

(

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

) has been taking place here every evening since 1959.

Border ceremony

Flag ceremony at Wahga border of Pak India

Border crossing

The border crossing draws its name from Wahga village, near which the

Radcliffe Line The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated by the two boundary commissions for the provinces of Punjab Province (British India), Punjab and Bengal Presidency, Bengal during the Partition of India. It is named after Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Visco ...

, the boundary

demarcation line {{Refimprove, date=January 2008 A political demarcation line is a geopolitical border, often agreed upon as part of an armistice or ceasefire. Africa * Moroccan Wall, delimiting the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara from the Sahraw ...

dividing India and Pakistan upon the

Partition of British India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan is the Islam ...

, was drawn. At the time of the independence in 1947, migrants from India entered Pakistan through this border crossing and vice versa. The

Wagah railway station Wagah Railway Station (Urdu and ) is located in Wagah, Punjab, Pakistan. It is the last station in Pakistan on the Lahore–Wagah Branch Line and serves as the border station before crossing into India. Wagah serves as a sub-urban station of Laho ...

is to the south and from the border.

Border crossing ceremony

The Wagah-Attari border ceremony happens at the border gate, two hours before

sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

each day. The flag ceremony is conducted by the

and Indian

(BSF), similar to the retreat ceremonies at

Ganda Singh Wala Ganda Singh Wala ( Punjabi/) is a village, just 58 km from Lahore City in Kasur District in the Punjab, Pakistan. Until 1986, it served as the main border crossing between Pakistan and India. The Sutlej River flows by Ganda Singh Wala, and the a ...

Hussainiwala Hussainiwala is a village near Firozpur city in Firozpur district in Punjab state, India. It lies near the bank of the Sutlej river. The village is on the border with Pakistan, opposite the Pakistani village of Ganda Singh Wala. It is a borde ...

border crossing and

Mahavir/Sadqi International Parade Ground The Retreat ceremony (lowering of the flags ceremony) at Mahavir/Sadqi international parade ground located in Sadqi village, just 14 km from Fazilka City in Fazilka district, Punjab, India. but b/w Sulemanki village, just 45 km from Major City De ...

border crossing. A marching ceremony, known as the "Silly Walk ceremony", is conducted each evening along with the flag ceremony. The ceremony started in 1986 as an agreement of peace, although there was not a conflict at that time.

Gallery

File:Pakistani Flag Wahga Border.jpg, 122m high

Pakistani flag The national flag of Pakistan, also known as the Flag of the Star and Crescent (), is made up of a green field with a stylized tilted white descending crescent moon and five-pointed star at its centre, and a vertical white stripe at its hoist- ...

on Wagah Border File:Stadium wahga border.jpg, Stadium-like seating at Pakistani side of the border File:Wagha border.jpg, The Pakistani gate at the border crossing File:Bab e Azadi Wahga Border.jpg, Bab-e-Azadi (Gate of Independence) on Pakistani side of Wagah Border Wagah border indian bsf.jpg, Indian BSF at Wagah Women personnel of India's Border Security Force.jpg, Women personnel of Indian BSF at Wagah File:Soldiers at Wagah border.jpg, Punjab Rangers at Waga

References

External links

{{wikinews-inline, Flag-lowering ceremony at Wagah border becomes more peaceful *

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

br>at the India-Pakistan border ceremony on the Pakistani side
(from ''

Himalaya with Michael Palin ''Himalaya with Michael Palin'' is a 2004 BBC television series presented by comedian and travel presenter Michael Palin. It records his six-month trip around the Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separ ...

''). BBCWorldwide video on YouTube. *

Sanjeev Bhaskar Sanjeev Bhaskar (born 31 October 1963) is a British actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for his work in the BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two sketch comedy series ''Goodness Gracious Me (TV series), Goodness Gracious Me'' and as t ...

br>at the India-Pakistan border ceremony on the Indian side
BBCWorldwide video on YouTube.
Pictures of independence's 60th anniversary celebration at Wagah Border
Wagha Town India–Pakistan border crossings Villages in Punjab, Pakistan Checkpoints