'Wagah of the East' to be unveiled on October 2

The 'Wagah of the East', along the India-Bangladesh border, will be thrown open to the public this Gandhi Jayanti when Home Ministers of both the countries will witness a cultural extravaganza between the two neighbours.

The first retreat ceremony, part of confidence-building measures, between the two countries will be held at Petrapole-Benapoloe border on the lines of the event that happens everyday between India and Pakistan along Wagah border in Punjab, sans the simulated angry looks by border guards and stomping of foot.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will be present with his Bangladeshi counterpart M K Alamgir at the border in West Bengal to inaugurate the over-an-hour ceremony on October 2.

"I will be attending the ceremony," Shinde said.

The ceremony, which will include ceremonial lowering of flags in the evening, will be conducted by the border guards of the two countries-- the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) dressed in full regalia.

The BSF, on the India side at the Integrated Check Post area in North 24 Parganas district, will create the required infrastructure for the people to witness the event and will upgrade the logistics over a period of time.

The ceremony, according to the sources will be "friendly and refined" and will include renditions of songs by poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore.

The total time for the cultural programme and joint retreat ceremony will be of half an hour duration, out of which 18 minutes will be for cultural programme and twelve minutes for the drill.

About twenty troops from both sides will undertake the drill. India has included four women BSF personnel to perform the drills.

The proposal to hold such an event was first mooted in 2011 and it was pursued by the current officials in both the forces with Subhash Joshi giving special focus to the task in getting clearances from Home Ministry.

Joshi, who had recently led a delegation to Bangaldesh for biennial border talks with BGB, personally invited Bangladesh Home Minister Alamgir for the vent.

The ceremony is also planned to be held at three other places along the country's border with Bangladesh.

The areas identified 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.

India and Pakistan have been traditionally hosting the flag-lowering ceremony at 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 the occasions like Independence Day and festivals like Diwali and Eid.