The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Wagah

Every evening as dusk falls on the India-Pakistan border post near Lahore, crowds gather on either side of the frontier and scream slogans at each other in a choreographed show of bravado.

"Long Live Pakistan!" some shout from the stands as patriotic music blasts through a stadium. Similar cries ring out from India, while men on both sides frantically wave flags, trying to outdo each other in nationalistic fervour.

Immaculately dressed soldiers then lower both national flags, marking the closure of the border between two countries who have been at odds since independence from Britain and partition in 1947.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The countries came to the brink of war again in the aftermath of a deadly attack on India's parliament in December 2001, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.