Where India and Pakistan turn division into theatre

At Wagah, near Amritsar, a flag-lowering ritual transforms one of the world's pivotal borders into patriotic spectacle, ritualised rivalry and coexistence

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Mahatma Gandhi is smiling. The bespectacled father of Indian independence beams across a multi-tiered arena. The December sun, low in a clear blue sky, heightens the power of the image – and the banner beneath, stating: “India’s first line of defence”.

The great cities of Amritsar in India and Lahore in Pakistan are just 30 miles apart. They are connected by the Grand Trunk Road, Asia’s “main street”, but agonisingly divided by geopolitics.

With a combined population approaching 15 million, the border crossing here at Wagah, roughly halfway between the two, should be the busiest in the world. Instead, one of the world’s great frontiers has been demoted to pure theatre.

At the heart of Amritsar is one of the planet’s glories: the Golden Temple, shimmering in a lake, the holiest site for the Sikh religion. Once the visitor has been dazzled by ornate architecture, soothed by the constant sacred music and fed by the charity of the Sikh community, the next attraction is waiting: a sightseeing excursion to the border ceremony.

It’s 3pm, and the government of Punjab open-top bus (a snip at £3) has just delivered me and a couple of dozen Indian tourists to the border. We are offloaded in a car park the size of an airfield, and amble past “the first and last restaurant in India”, the Shahi Qita.