Following 10 days of India-Pakistan ceasefire, the Beating Retreat ceremony by the Border Security Force (BSF) will return on Tuesday evening in a limited form at the Attari-Wagah, Hussainiwala, and Fazilka borders, all in Punjab.
This follows a 12-day interruption during military clashes between the two nations.
Authorities told IANS that there won't be a handshake with armed staff on the Pakistan side or opening of border gates, but viewers will be allowed to watch the ceremony nonetheless.
The ceremonies would be held at 6 p.m. on the Attari border outside Amritsar, the Hussainiwala border in Ferozepur, and the Sadqi border in Fazilka.
The Border Area Development Front has appealed to the locals to arrive at Sadqi by 5.30 p.m. so that they could enjoy the ceremony en masse.
On ordinary occasions, hundreds of onlookers, including foreigners, assemble to watch the ceremony.
The Beating Retreat, the first-ever such emblematic ceremony with electrifying impact on rowdy crowd at the borders of two nations close to Amritsar, has been observing a military drill and lowering of national flags of both India and Pakistan moments before sunset since 1959.
The border troops on both sides interchange sweets on such occasions as Diwali and Eid, and also Independence Day and Republic Day events.
The Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post, situated about 30 km from Amritsar, whereas it is 22 km from Lahore in Pakistan, has a gallery with a seating capacity to hold almost 25,000 viewers to watch the flag-lowering ceremony.
It remained closed to the public during the first week of March 2020 owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. India had decided to forego the gesture in 2019 amid increasing cases of ceasefire breaches along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. Since the surgical strikes by Indian troops along the borders in September 2016, the BSF had never given sweets to the Pakistan Rangers.
--IANS