- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers on Wednesday (21) exchanged sweets at various points along the border between the two neighbours on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha, the first time since 2019.
“Indian Army and Pakistan Army exchanged sweets on the auspicious occasion of Eid-al-Adha at the Line of Control at Poonch-Rawalakot Crossing Point and Mendhar-Hotspring Crossing Point in Poonch district on Wednesday,” defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said, India’s Hindustan Times reported.
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The ‘sweet diplomacy’ was seen as an enhanced confidence-building measure at a time when the two nuclear-armed countries are observing a ceasefire.
“Greetings and best wishes of peace and harmony were conveyed to the Pakistan Army representatives from Indian Army. The gesture was appreciated by both the armies and is expected to further promote goodwill and mutual trust,” Anand added.
Sources in the BSF also confirmed that sweets and pleasantries were exchanged between the personnel of the two countries on the occasion of Eid.
“Today, the festival of Eid-al-Adha was celebrated by border men on Indo- Pak border. On this occasion, troops of BSF and Pakistan Rangers greeted each other and exchanged sweets in Hira Nagar, Samba, Ramgarh, RS Pura, Arnia, Pargwal sectors of international border in Jammu region. There has not been cross-border shelling for a long time, and farmers on both sides of the border have been able to carry out their farming activities peacefully,” BSF Jammu frontier DIG SPS Sandhu said.
This was the first time that the guarding forces of the two countries exchanged sweets after the deadly terror attack on a convoy of India’s CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) by a suicide bomber in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019 that left 40 personnel dead.
Later that year, relations between India and Pakistan worsened after the Narendra Modi government abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources in the BSF spokesperson, however, said that the custom was suspended in 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid pandemic.
India and Pakistan had in February released a joint statement announcing the ceasefire along the Line of Control between them in Kashmir but both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
Last month, India accused Pakistan of conducting a terror attack at a base of the Indian Air Force in Jammu airport by using drones.
