BORDER SHOW - INDIA x PAKISTAN
At the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan, every day before sunset, the guards lower the flags of both countries. The border between these two nuclear powers is theatrically closed for the night. Here, in the Punjab plain, spectators on both sides of the wire fences enthusiastically shout, dance, and beat their chests. Soldiers stomp in their heavy boots and stare ominously into each other’s eyes across the border. Orange dust swirls in the setting sun, and the deafening chants of “Hindustan, Hindustan” (India, India) rise from the stands lining the road. A cheerleader bounces along the hot asphalt, and the crowd, almost in a trance, repeats every movement. On the Pakistani side of the border, the full stands chant “Pakistan, Pakistan.” The “cheering” at the only border crossing between India and Pakistan could resemble an international cricket match. But everything is different here. This is the center of nationalist passions, a border that resembles the Berlin Wall, a zone where families are separated by barbed wire. It is also the scene of a daily spectacle for locals and tourists: the “ceremonial” closing of the border between India and Pakistan. Through the bars of the iron gate, Pakistanis look into India, and Indians look into Pakistan.
The Migration of Nations
In the summer of 1947, the Punjab plain became the stage for a horror – the largest exodus in human history, the partition of India into India and Pakistan. Muslims fled from India, Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, up to fifteen million people were involuntarily part of this bloody migration, accompanied by massacres. Over a million people are said to have been killed during this time. Children were born in the dust of the roads, entire families were slaughtered, and violence in the name of religion seemed endless. The new border was drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947, right through the middle of Punjab. Radcliffe’s line sliced through the fertile land of the Sikhs. After 350 years of British rule over India, the British helped to divide the territory, but after their departure, they could not prevent the massacres in the border towns and the interior.
A Split Path
Every afternoon, hundreds of people stream along the Grand Trunk Road in both directions. Their destination is the “show” at the Wagah border crossing. A hired taxi heads from the Indian city of Amritsar towards the border at noon. Bollywood music plays on the radio, and four adult men squeeze into the trunk on two benches. On the outskirts, the taxi stops at a Hindu temple where the passengers receive blessings for the journey. The Suzuki jeep then speeds along the Grand Trunk Road, which is over four thousand years old. The road begins in Bangladesh and stretches through India and Pakistan to Afghanistan, covering more than 2,500 kilometers. The taxi stops in a dusty parking lot full of other cars and trucks. The traffic on the four-lane road is extraordinary. People pull Indian flags from their cars. The heat is unbearable, and a cloth over the mouth becomes essential as dust gets everywhere. “Buy an Indian flag, buy Coca-Cola! Roasted corn, boiled corn, DVDs of the ceremony, buy water, buy an Indian keychain!” Street vendors shout over the honking trucks. These trucks will not cross the border today; they must wait until the morning when the crossing reopens. In peaceful times, the border is passable between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Every day, several trucks pass through, occasionally a bus, with thorough inspections. The road by the Wagah crossing is lined with two rows of rusted barbed wire barriers, and between them, the sand is raked. Police and military transporters patrol, and soldiers are armed with submachine guns. Thousands of Indians wait at the border, just as Pakistanis do on the other side. “Today, I could have lived in Pakistan, but my father had to leave with his parents when he was eleven. He’s a Sikh, and they would have killed him there. When he managed to visit what is now Pakistan, Rawalpindi, where he spent his childhood, I have never seen him so sad and emotional again,” shares Divya, a designer living in Delhi, reflecting on the Indian-Pakistani relationship.
Threatening Fists and Runners with Flags
A tourist who comes to watch the closing of the Wagah crossing must pass through a metal detector and then be directed to the left towards the foreigner’s stand. “I’m from Israel, traveling in India, and I’m interested in this border,” says Gabrielle. She’s visited the Himalayas and is headed to the sea. Many young people from Israel flee to India before military service, and Gabrielle has been traveling in India for three months; after returning home, she will face two years of mandatory military service. But now she wants to experience the local “show” – running with the flag towards the iron gate that separates India from Pakistan. The mixed stand for foreigners is positioned closest to her. Next to it is the stand for Indian women, and the other terraces are filled with shouting men. Down on the road, Indian soldiers hand the flag to proud runners, volunteers. First, women run in pairs, followed by men. Bollywood music blares from the speakers. The announcer loudly yells into the megaphone “Hindustan!” and the crowd repeats it three times with deafening shouts, some shaking their fists. A similar scene unfolds on the opposite side, where the spectators try to outshout each other. The space of this peculiar “roadside theater” is closed by a brick gate with the inscription India. A large portrait of Indian leader and independence fighter Mahatma Gandhi, who opposed the partition of India, gazes down. On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a radical Hindu. On each side of Gandhi’s portrait stands a soldier holding a weapon. Both face the opposite side of the border, where soldiers in black uniforms guard the inscription Pakistan and a portrait of the country’s founding father. Muhammad Ali Jinnah is the author of the two-nation theory, which became the foundation for the creation of the separate Muslim state after the collapse of British India. Pakistan was created on August 15, 1947. Jinnah died of tuberculosis on September 11 the following year.
The Nationalist Choreography
In the setting sun, women joyfully dance to traditional music, and foreign women in the stands join them. For a moment, it resembles a festival of colors and movement before the grim scenery returns: soldiers with guns, barbed wire, an impenetrable border, and memories of the massacre. Opposite, on the sidewalk, sit mothers with children and a holy man. Indian female soldiers begin to line up the spectators into neat rows. The military show begins. The gates, behind which the border crossing lies, open. Soldiers on both sides of the border stand facing each other with stern expressions. Yet they shake hands and then march off at a furious pace back to their respective territories. The steps are sharp, and the toes of their boots fly up to shoulder height. Nationalist theater, a chauvinist choreographer, and the stands go wild with excitement. The flags of both countries are lowered in parallel, folded in an instant, and the soldiers slam the iron gate shut. It’s over. The border remains closed until the morning.
Between Two Worlds
Wagah (often spelled Wagha) is the border crossing on the line between Pakistan and India. The border was created in 1947 during the partition of the former British colony of India into Pakistan and India. The Pakistani city of Lahore is 27 kilometers away, and the Indian city of Amritsar is also 27 kilometers away. Wagah is the only place where foreigners can cross the border. Since the beginning of this year, Indian or Pakistani citizens over the age of 65 can obtain a visa directly at the border. Until now, the border had been practically impassable due to complex visa procedures. Now, families separated for several decades will finally have a chance to reunite. Wagah Border is the only road link between the two countries.
