Pak holds beating retreat ceremony at Wagah

It asks India to suspend the ceremony

• Death toll rises to 61; 21 people arrested
• 3 militant groups claim responsibility for the attack
• US offers help to Pak to probe Wagah attack
• Trade via Attari-Wagah land route comes to halt

Lahore: Hours after cancelling the beating retreat ceremony at Wagah following a deadly suicide attack, Pakistan on Monday allowed general public to view the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the Indo-Pak border.

"We have decided in a meeting this afternoon to allow the general public to come and watch the flag-lowering ceremony," Punjab Rangers spokesman Maj Shahid Abbas said.

"Since we have cleared off the blast site after collecting the forensic evidence, there was no point in closing the Parade Avenue for the public," he told PTI. Earlier, India had said that at the request of Pakistan Rangers, there will be no beating retreat ceremony at Wagah Border for three days from Monday.

General Ashok Kumar, a top official with the Border Security Force in Punjab, said Pakistani commanders informed Indian counterparts at the last minute that they would hold the full ceremony on their side of the border.

General Kumar said the ceremony will be held normally in India from Tuesday.

Meanwhile, at least 21 people, including a suicide-bomber, were arrested and explosives and a suicide vest recovered from Wagah border area as entire Pakistan was put on red alert after 61 people were killed in a deadly terror attack at the Indo-Pak land border crossing. A Punjab Rangers official said that explosives and a suicide jacket had been found during a search operation in the area.

"The suicide vest stuffed with explosives and ball bearings has been defused by the bomb disposal squad," he said.
Three militant groups have separately claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. The US offered to provide any assistance to Pakistan to track down the perpetrators behind the "senseless" terrorist attack at Wagah Border that killed at least 61 people.

Condemning the horrific suicide attack as a "senseless terrorist act", Ambassador Richard Olson said it demonstrates terrorists' blatant disregard for life.

"This act demonstrates terrorists' blatant disregard for life. The United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the people of Pakistan in their efforts to counter terrorism, uphold the rule of law, and build a peaceful future for themselves and their children," Olson said in a statement.

Trade between India and Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah route has come to a halt in the wake of suicide attack at Wagah border, which claimed lives of 61 people in Pakistan.

"Trade movement through trucks between India and Pakistan has stopped for now," a senior official of Customs department (Amritsar) told PTI today over phone.