Yashwant Sinha criticises beating retreat ceremony at Wagah Border

New Delhi, Feb 2: Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday questioned the continuance of "ugly" beating retreat ceremony at Wagah on the India-Pakistan border being followed since 1959.

"We have that ugly ceremony at Wagah, almost vulgar, I don't know why we are continuing it but we are," said the senior BJP leader, who also held the portfolio of Finance in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The ceremony, which marks closing of the Wagah border in Amritsar every evening, is a daily military practice that the security forces of the two countries -Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers -- have jointly followed since 1959.

In the ceremony, also called the 'Beating Retreat', flags of the countries are lowered by the security personnel with a number of aggressive gestures.

Sinha, who was speaking at an India-Pakistan business event here, said "everyone agrees that there is a huge potential in our bilateral trade and yet at present it is abysymal low."

PTI