Ferozepur- The land of Martyrs

‘Welcome to Ferozepur - THE LAND OF MARTYRS’ reads the signboard which also mentions that the Ferozepur cantt. (or the so called ferozepur wala army area) is straight ahead and Ferozepur city is towards the right. Till here it is fine but the very next signboard reads: International Indo-Pak border is straight ahead 5 km which sends a chill down many spines. 

Most surprising thing about Ferozepur is that it is one of the largest towns that I have seen so close the most tensed border of the world. The urban conglomeration ends barely 3 km from the deadline i.e. the line of control (LOC). Ferozepur is more of a peaceful area perhaps because its residents live so close to the 'violence' that they have finally come to conclusion that peace is a rare entity and must be relished to its fullest while it is still there. 

Ferozepur was founded by Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq (1351–88), a famous ruler of the Tughluq dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388. Five of my friends from delhi have been to ferozepur and as promised I will not go much into THEORY, here are some of the pics:

GURUDWARA GURUSAR JAMNI SAHIB, BAZIDPUR -This gurudwara is dedicated to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the 10th Sikh guru, a saint-warrior. You can read the history from wikipedia, this gurudwara is an epitome of truth and justice.

Next is a picture of lush green field, a typical representation of punjab:

Below is a picture of mustard and a rose from our own kitchen garden (pic credits: Rishabh sharma):

The following two pictures are from our own field. We follow a modern agriculture like creation of artificial greenhouse effect to protect crops from severe cold that is prevalent in north India.

In northern side of our district lie the Harike wetland and Harike lake which is created by barraging two rivers Satluj and Beas. The overheads trap water which is supplied to two huge canals. One of these canals supplies irrigation water to punjab (malwa region) while the other is the famous Indira Gandhi canal, one of largest canal systems in India. Indira gandhi canal, also known as Rajasthan feeder is notable for bringing green revolution in otherwise barren regions of Rajasthan. Below are some images of canal, harike overheads, Harike wetland, Harike sanctuary and Harike lake with majestic confluence of The Satluj and The Beas.

And now comes the famous Hussainiwala border and evening parade. This is international border between India and Pakistan. Following images show the way to the border:

Around half a kilometer before the LOC, line of control are the memorial buildings. It has samadhi of Shaheed Bhagat singh, Shaheed Sukhdev, Shaheed Rajguru, Shaheed B.K.Dutt and Revered Punjab Mata. There is an old station through which a rail passed connecting Ferozepur and Kasur (now in pakistan). The rail line was destroyed during war as were mos of the memorial buildings. They were rebuilt by the Indian army as stated on an inscription. It takes about an hour to roam around and absorb the patriotic fervour.

And here comes the LINE OF CONTROL the international boundary between India and Pakistan:

Way to border and parade Flag Lowering ceremony filled with all possible hues of patriotism and amongst the chants of BHARAT MATA KI JAI, VANDE MATRAM etc. Both the countries have made adequate seating arrangements for their nationals but the Indian side buildings are huge and majestic like ancient forts rightly implying the big brother theme. 

The road the leads to parade area:

The next is image of Gate of India, passing underneath this gigantic structure brings feelings of an altogether different kind. Just before the gateway is Hanuman mandir and Majar of Pir Hussainiwala showing to other side the incomparable unity that our country stands for. 

With the national emblem on both sides and army men standing around the majestic gate typifies following three principles:

1. Democracy

2. Rule of law

3. Army to help and secure its people (not rule them)

This is gate is a symbol of our high stature as it clearly visible to people of pakistan symbolising for them a 'distant dream'.

The pakistan side gate:

Me and my friends during and after the parade:

please skip this portion of text: (so sorry Rishabh was never in these photos. hey Rishabh if u have any pic just mail it to me i will add it here.)

Next is a pakistani battle tank captured by our braveheart soldiers. Such tanks are common in urban roundabouts in border region:

For a note: If you see a tank with barrel up it means it has served in winning a war, barrel down means it belongs to enemy who was defeated and tank captured and barrel horizontal means that the tank served in peace time.

Special Thanks to: Abhishek, Sachin, Ayush, Aditya, Rishabh and Babbu uncle.

I wanted to add some pics of the famous SARAGARHI memorial but on a second thought I felt that Saragarhi needs a new blog. 

Disclaimer: No photos were taken in restricted areas. 

Thanks...

Keep India Clean and Green....