PDP hails Beating Retreat ceremony at Suchetgarh

Srinagar, October 3

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday welcomed the Centre’s decision to start the Beating Retreat ceremony at Suchetgarh on the Pakistan border, saying it would give a fillip to tourism and also improve cross-border ties.

Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha on Saturday inaugurated the ceremony at the Octroi Post, Suchetgarh, on the border. “Welcome GoIs decision to start Beat the Retreat ceremony at Suchetgarh. Will certainly give a fillip to tourism and hope its taken further by using it as a trade and travel route between Suchetgarh and Sialkot,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

The former CM of the erstwhile state said such confidence-building measures improve cross-border ties and benefit both the sides economically too.

On Saturday, India launched a Wagah-Attari-style BSF’s retreat ceremony at the Octrio border outpost near Suchetgarh village on the International Border on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The ceremony, comprising a structured parade by BSF men, was launched with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha terming the event as a “history in making” and the locals fervently hoping that the usual rattling of guns and booming of shells across the IB, prevalent till recently, will be a thing of past. — PTI