New Delhi: It will be the first `Wagah in the East` and in a month`s time troops from India and Bangladesh along the frontier will be performing `retreat` ceremony by lowering flags.
Soldiers of BSF and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) in full regalia will perform `retreat`--ceremonial lowering of flags--along the Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh) frontier, similar to the tradition prevalent along the India-Pakistan border.
Both the countries have begun creating infrastructure for visitors on their respective side to witness the event in the evening, Border Security Force (BSF) chief Subhash Joshi said on Friday. It will be more "friendly and refined" than the foot-stomping, high-energy drill at the Wagah-Attari border, he said.
"We have decided that in a phased manner we will have joint retreat ceremony at various places starting with Petrapole-Benapole border. The drills are being worked out and within a month it should be in place," Joshi said while interacting with journalists at the end of five-day talks with BGB here.
A 23-member BGB delegation, led by their Director General (DG) Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed, is in Delhi for bi-annual talks between the two forces.
The ceremony will be held at three other places in the east. They are Changrabandha-Burimari border (Tripura area) and Akhaura and Phulbari-Banglabandha frontiers (West Bengal area) which are part of the 4,096-km Indo-Bangla border.
The proposal was first mooted during a similar meeting between the border guarding forces here in 2011.
BSF, according to a senior officer, would also deploy its women personnel to participate in the event along the Petrapole-Benapole border.
India and Pakistan have been traditionally hosting the flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah-Attari border and the event is attended by a large number of people from both the countries as well as foreign nationals.
Greetings and gifts are exchanged by officials at this frontier on occasions like Independence Day and festivals like Diwali, Holi and Eid.
PTI
