‘Sweet diplomacy’: India and Pakistan exchange sweets to mark Eid al-Adha

On Wednesday, India and Pakistan engaged in ‘sweet diplomacy’ along the international border in celebration of the festival of Eid-al-Adha. During Eid al Adha on Wednesday, ‘Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged sweets at the Poonch-Rawalakot and the Mendhar-Hotspring Points in the Poonch district’, said defense spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand. In the context of an ongoing ceasefire between the two nations, the ceremony is seen as an enhanced confidence-building measure.

Indian Army representatives conveyed greetings and best wishes of peace and harmony to Pakistan Army representatives. ‘The gesture of goodwill and mutual trust was appreciated by both arms, and it should further improve both,’ he concluded. According to a senior Border Security Force (BSF) officer, sweets and pleasantries were exchanged between the BSF and Pakistan Rangers along the international border in Jammu. After the Pulwama terror attack on a CRPF convoy by a suicide bomber on February 14, 2019, which left 40 CRPF personnel dead, the two border guarding forces exchanged sweets for the first time.

‘The festival of Eid-al-Adha was celebrated today by border guards on the Indo-Pak border. In Jammu, BSF and Pakistan Rangers exchanged sweets in Hira Nagar, Samba, Ramgarh, RS Pura, Arnia and Pargwal sectors of the international border. There haven’t been cross-border shelling for some time and farmers on both sides of the border have been able to farm peacefully,’ said BSF Jammu frontier DIG SPS Sandhu.

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Jammu and Kashmir have seen one of its deadliest terror attacks with the Pulwama attack. The Indian Army representatives conveyed greetings and best wishes of peace and harmony to the Pakistani Army representatives. Jaish suicide bombers rammed a vehicle carrying over 100kg of explosives into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district. The attack also left many critically injured. There has been an increase in drone activity over the last month, including the June 27 attack on the Indian Air Force station in Jammu.