Swiss couple on peace tour hit roadblock at Attari border

September 11th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Border Security Force (BSF) troopers fired from machine-guns into Pakistan after rockets were fired into Indian territory in the Amritsar sector from across the border Friday night. BSF officials Saturday morning launched an operation to find if any more rockets were fired into the Indian side near the Attari joint check post from across the barbed-wire fencing border between both countries.

August 19th, 2009 Glaciers melt, Swiss get some territory from ItalyBERN, Switzerland — Switzerland has expanded its border at Italy's expense because of melting glaciers in the high Alps. The Swiss government on Wednesday approved shifting the border up to 150 meters (164 yards) into Italian territory in some areas.

August 15th, 2009 ATTARI BORDER - In what has become an annual ritual at the Attari-Wagah international border between India and Pakistan, peace activists from both sides assembled at the check post here Friday midnight to light candles and pledge for better relations between both sides. The peaceniks, led by veteran Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar, walked up to the border gate on the Indian side, 30 km from Amritsar city, and lit candles there.

August 5th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla Wednesday tied colourful rakhis on the wrists of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel posted at the Attari border and celebrated with them the festival of Raksha Bandhan, marking the bond of love between siblings. Chawla, who represents Amritsar constituency in the state assembly, also stopped at an army station some five kilometres from the Attari check-post and tied rakhis to some army officials there.

July 18th, 2009 SILIGURI - With the messages of global peace and harmony, a group of specially-abled people has set out on a tour across the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The SAARC is an economic and political organization of eight countries in Southern Asia.

July 5th, 2009 ATTARI - The Border Security Force (BSF) is investigating two blasts that occurred in a village along the fenced border between India and Pakistan Saturday night. BSF officials said two shells landed on the Indian side of the border in paddy fields of Dande village near the Attari-Wagah land border joint check post, 30 km from Amritsar city.

May 18th, 2009 VANCOUVER - An Indian-origin couple in Surrey near here was jailed in Seattle at the weekend for trying to smuggle people from Canada into the US. Forty-eight-year-old Jas Binning and 32-year-old Jagdeep Binning, who live near Peace Arch Park on the US-Canadian border, were arrested in December for trying to smuggle two undercover police officers into the US over a period of four months.

April 3rd, 2009 AMRITSAR - Pakistani security authorities Friday allowed the Amritsar-Lahore-Nankana Sahib peace bus between the two countries to enter its territory, but the bus did not have any passengers. Border Security Force (BSF) officials at the Attari border, 30 km from here, said that the bus was allowed to cross the international border gates with only its crew on board.

April 2nd, 2009 AMRITSAR - Uncertainty prevails over the India-Pakistan peace bus being allowed to enter Pakistani territory Friday by authorities in that country in the wake of the recent terrorist strikes near Lahore. The Amritsar-Lahore 'Punjab-Aab' bus will leave this city for its journey till Lahore city in Pakistan, 55 km from here, Friday.

March 4th, 2009 AMRITSAR - The Border Security Force (BSF) early Wednesday foiled an attempt by Pakistani intruders to smuggle heroin into India, killing one of them in a gunbattle in the Amritsar sector of the international border, an official said. While two smugglers managed to escape, one was killed in the gunbattle at Mahwa post near Attari and was being identified, BSF's Punjab Frontier Deputy Inspector General Jagir Singh told IANS.

February 23rd, 2009 AMRITSAR - A group of eminent people from India on a peace mission Sunday crossed over into Pakistan from the Attari-Wagah land border checkpost between the two countries near here. Noted journalist Kuldip Nayar, film director Mahesh Bhatt, social activist Swami Agnivesh and others are part of this peace delegation.

February 21st, 2009 AMRITSAR - A Pakistani driver and a guard of a goods train that arrived at the Attari border railway station in India from Pakistan Friday were questioned by customs officials following the recovery of a large quantity of poppy seeds from the train's engine. The driver, Mohammed Ali, and a guard of the train were questioned by the customs and security officials after the goods train arrived at Attari, 30 km from here.

February 9th, 2009 JAMMU - Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Tuesday said peace in the sub-continent and the resolution of the Kashmir issue should dominate the national debate rather than the war and confrontation rhetoric against Pakistan. In a statement issued here, Sayeed expressed concern over statements about the possibility of surgical strikes and war with Pakistan as an option to fight terror in the region.

January 26th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Nearly 14 kg of heroin worth Rs.140 million was seized from three people, including two women, at the Attari railway station Tuesday, a customs official said. The three people, from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested.

December 27th, 2008 AMRITSAR - Very few passengers from India are boarding the bus service from here to Lahore and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and the numbers are likely to go down further with the Ministry of External Affairs issuing a travel advisory asking Indians not to travel to Pakistan. Started in 2006, the Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib (the birthplace of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev) bus services have never been a big hit with people due to the lack of a facility for obtaining Pakistani visas from here.