At Indo-Pak border, BSF men dance to celebrate Lohri

Miles away from their families, jawans of the Border Security Force celebrated Lohri by dancing to the tunes of drums and guitars around bonfires and exchanging sweets with locals at the Forward Border Out Post in Suchetgarh, Jammu.

Despite the high degree of alertness to block infiltration bids from across the border, jawans and officers of BSF immersed themselves in the Lohri celebrations at the Octerio-Suchetgarh forward border post along the International Border.

They danced to the tunes of drums and guitars and Punjabi songs around the bonfires on the borderline. "We are miles away from our families. But with the participation of the locals, students and some leaders, it never looked like we are away from home," BSF officer D K Upaday said.

"We are very happy. We are celebrating Lohri with great enthusiasm. The jawans are alert on the borders to perform our duty. We are happy to be with all of them," Jawan Dayal Singh said.

Amidst the celebrations, patrolling by jawans continued as usual.

"We wanted to make them feel at home by celebrating Lohri with Jawans of BSF. In this direction we came forward to organise the programmes with them and locals here", said National Conference leader T S Tony.

"Jawans are celebrating Lohri. But at the same time, they have not let down the vigil along the borderline," Tony said.

Residents of Suchetgarh village located near the border also joined the jawans to celebrate the festival which marks the end of winter season.

Troops hoped that the festival will also mark the beginning of normalcy and peace along the borderline.

Lohri was also celebrated in Chakan-da-bagh, Jhangar, Pallanwala, Ramgarh and some other places along the LoC and the International Border in J&K.