So close & so very far

The name translates into Punjabi as the ‘elevated place’, and Attari’s status as an international landmark makes it the most well-known among the hundreds of Indian villages situated along the International Border with Pakistan. Located at a distance of 28 km from Amritsar and 22 km from Lahore, Attari is more than just the holding ground, along with the Pakistani village of Wagah, for the Joint Check-Post (JCP) between the two neighbouring countries. The only permissible land route for trade between India and Pakistan, Attari’s significance goes much beyond the economic sphere. A popular route for cross-border travel, Attari-Wagah represents a cultural and social vantage point of the fault lines of a troubled past — a witness to the crosswinds of history.

As during the escalation of tensions in the past, the immediate aftermath of the horrific Pahalgam terror attack is being felt at Attari — suspension of all trade activity by the Centre and Pakistani nationals queuing up to return before the Indian government’s deadline. Pakistan, too, subsequently announced suspension of all trade with India, including through third countries.

In the public imagination, the Attari-Wagah border is synonymous with the daily retreat ceremony. Acrimony and bonhomie co-mingle as Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers’ personnel engage in a synchronised drill characterised by aggressive manoeuvres as they come in close contact.

Sweets are exchanged or discontinued at the site on Eid, Diwali and the national festivals of India and Pakistan depending upon the prevailing mood between the nations.

Despite India and Pakistan engaging in full blown wars in 1965 and 1971, the JCP did not witness any violent incident except in 2014, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosion in which 60 persons were killed and over 110 persons injured on the Pakistani side of the border crossing.

Fencing along the International Border ended in the early 1990s.

Trade outpost

BK Bajaj, an Amritsar-based dry fruit importer who joined the family’s pre-Partition business in 1963, recalls that the cross-border trade through Attari has been going on since Independence. He remembers how truckloads of merchandise would arrive at Attari and porters used to carry them across the border, where sacks would be loaded again in trucks. Similarly, goods trains used to transport the merchandise.

The Customs Department operated a Land Customs Station for years before it was upgraded into the Integrated Check Post (ICP), the country’s first, with an investment of about Rs 150 crore in 2012. Spread over 120 acres, the ICP has direct access to the National Highway. Its operation was handed over to the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI), while Customs handled the clearance part. After seizures of contraband in trucks coming from Pakistan, the LPAI installed a full-body truck scanner, costing around Rs 23 crore, in 2018.

Ups and downs

The ICP was used for exports only to Pakistan while it handled imports from both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Before the Indian government raised the customs duty on import of goods from Pakistan by 200 per cent following the Pulwama attack on CRPF personnel on February 14, 2019, about 200 trucks used to cross over from Pakistan daily. Six months later, in August, the Pakistan government, then led by Imran Khan, suspended trade ties with India in protest against the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The export that stood at Rs 3,052.14 crore in 2012-13 fell down to Rs 737.65 crore in 2018-19.

Rajdeep Singh Uppal, past chairman of CII-Amritsar, who has been engaged in the import and export of fresh farm produce from the ICP for the past three decades, says cross-border trade had commenced through trucks in 2002-03. His company had sent the first batch of tomatoes to Lahore through the Land Custom Station, a precursor to the ICP. Now his company is involved in trade with Afghanistan.

On the closure of trade activity with Pakistan through Attari and the transit facility for imports from Afghanistan, Uppal says the Indian importers and exporters “stand firmly behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the move after the despicable Pahalgam terror attack on tourists”.

Afghan imports

Imports from Afghanistan at the ICP primarily consist of figs, raisins, apples, garlic, saffron, almonds, apricots, onions, pomegranates, walnuts, spices, including zeera, and herbs in a daily average of over 15 truckloads.

The ICP recorded the highest-ever imports from Afghanistan to the tune of over Rs 3,700 crore since its opening 12 years back in the 2023-24 financial year. In the 2022-23 fiscal, India had imported Afghan goods worth Rs 2,212 crore. The ICP commenced its operations with the import of Rs 1,748 crore worth of merchandise during the 2012-13 fiscal.

Road, train routes

The Attari land route and Attari International Railway Station are perfect examples of how Track II diplomacy worked effectively.

Buses were introduced to connect Delhi and Amritsar with Lahore and Nankana Sahib. The Delhi-Lahore bus service, known as ‘Sada-e-Sarhad’, was launched on February 19, 1999, after then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan through Attari. It generated the demand to ply a bus between the city of Golden Temple and Nankana Sahib, the two holiest sites of Sikhism.

Even as the Kargil war stalled the Lahore treaty and the Agra Summit from July 14 to 16, 2001, remained inconclusive, leaders from both India and Pakistan realised that people-to-people contact was necessary for resolving the long-standing dispute.

In 2006, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh flagged off the ‘Punj-aab’ bus between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib as a confidence-building measure. Pakistan reciprocated by launching the ‘Dosti’ bus between Amritsar and Lahore the same year.

In 2005, about 2,700 cricket fans entered the country through the Attari land route for the India-Pakistan Test match at Mohali. The next year, India cleared a quota of 1,000 visas for the Pakistan-New Zealand and Pakistan-South Africa matches in the country. However, some fans from Pakistan went missing, sending security forces and intelligence sleuths in a tizzy. A similar bonhomie was on display in 2011 when the high-profile World Cup semi-final between the two nations took place in Mohali.

However, as a fallout of India’s move to revoke Article 370 in J&K, Pakistan snapped all cross-border road and rail links. Since August 10, 2019, the services of ‘Punj-aab’ and ‘Dosti’ remain suspended. Similarly, the Samjhauta Express (Indian train) and the Thar Express (Pakistan train) went off-track due to the strained bilateral ties.

Sikh and Hindu jathas have always taken the land route through Attari to reach Pakistan to pay obeisance at their historic shrines. India also facilitates Pakistani nationals for ziyarat of Ajmer Sharif.

Besides passenger traffic, the Attari railway station also facilitated cargo exchange before the trade embargo was imposed in 2019. Several Bollywood and Punjabi movies have been shot at the station to give a feel of the India-Pakistan border.

Local voices

Gursher Singh, a porter, recalls that over 5,000 residents from villages around the ICP were rendered jobless after trade between India and Pakistan was halted in 2019. They were compelled to move to faraway locations to eke out a living. Now, some who were earning their living by getting whatever little work was being offered through trade with Afghanistan would also be rendered jobless.

Hawkers Maninder Singh and Prince Singh, who sell Tricolour flags and merchandise among visitors thronging to see the retreat ceremony, say the number of spectators had swelled from a few thousand over two decades ago to over 20,000 daily. About 100 residents of Attari village earn their living by selling these articles.

There’s an inherent sense of stoicism that is linked with Attari and the other border villages in Punjab. The villagers have seen it all — the latest escalation in India-Pakistan tensions is another chapter in the topsy-turvy history. Most say that New Delhi’s swift and stern action after Pahalgam was on expected lines, and that they have no reason to disagree. Attari’s tryst with destiny continues.

Attari-Wagah Joint Check-Post

• During and after Partition, the Attari-Wagah check-post had served as a route to regulate the flow of refugees.
• The retreat ceremony — hugely popular for several years now — was jointly initiated by Brigadier (later Major General) Mohinder Singh Chopra of the Indian Army and Brigadier Nazir Ahmed of the Pakistan army on October 11, 1947.
• It became a daily fixture in 1959. Since then, the border security forces — the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers — have engaged in the daily military drill at the Attari-Wagah border.
• Though highly ceremonial and intense in presentation, the event has a lot of symbolism attached to it, reflecting the longstanding rivalry and a shared cultural heritage.

Punjab