Ganda Singh Wala ( Punjabi/) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

, just 58 km from Lahore City in

Kasur District Kasur District ( Punjabi, ), is a district located in Lahore Division of Punjab, Pakistan. It came into existence on 1 July 1976; prior to its creation, the area comprised two tehsils ( Kasur Tehsil and Chunian Tehsil) of Lahore District. Acc ...

in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

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# ...

. Until 1986, it served as the main border crossing 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 ...

. The

Sutlej River The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of th ...

flows by Ganda Singh Wala, and the area is prone to flooding. The village is now a 45-minute drive from Lahore after the construction of the new

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 ...

Firozpur Firozpur, (pronunciation: ɪroːzpʊr also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan bor ...

road. Nearby Burj Naamdaar village is noted for the cultivation of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

Etymology

The village was named after Ganda Singh Datt. It lies on the border with Eastern Punjab,

. The Pakistani village, which was named after a Sikh man, lies opposite the Indian village of Hussainiwala, which in turn was named after a Muslim man.

India Pakistan Border

Border crossing

The border crossing is now closed. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the principal road crossing between India and Pakistan, but was replaced by the border crossing at

Wagah 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 ...

, a little further north. In 2005 there were proposals to reopen the border, but it remained closed. More recently the Chief Minister of Punjab

Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

proposed the reopening of the border when he visited

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.

Border ceremony

Since 1970, a daily 6 pm Beating Retreat Border Ceremony is jointly held at the border crossing by the military of both nations. It is similar to the Attari-Wagah border ceremony.District Ferozepur website: Retreat Ceremony at Husainiwala
/ref> Attendees are seated close by, as compared to Wagah where crowds are kept far apart. The Indian village across the border is Hussainiwala. "Ganda Singh Wala-Hussainiwala border ceremony" is attended mostly by local Punjabis on either side of the border.

References

External links