Ganda Singh Wala (Punjabi/Urdu: گنڈا سنگھ والا) is a village, 58 km from Lahore in Kasur District in the Punjab, Pakistan. Until 1986, it served as the main border crossing between Pakistan and India.[1] The Sutlej River flows by Ganda Singh Wala, and the area is prone to flooding.[2]
The village was named after Ganda Singh Datt. It lies on the border with Eastern Punjab, India. The Pakistani village, which was named after a Sikh man, lies opposite the Indian village of Hussainiwala, which in turn was named after a Muslim man.
The border crossing is now closed. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the principal road crossing between India and Pakistan,[3] but was replaced by the border crossing at Wagah, a little further north. In 2005 there were proposals to reopen the border,[4] but it remained closed. More recently the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif proposed the reopening of the border when he visited Attari in India.[citation needed]
Since 1970, a daily 6 pm Beating Retreat Border Ceremony is jointly held at the border crossing by the military of both nations. It is similar to the Attari-Wagah border ceremony.[5] Attendees are seated close by, as compared to Wagah where crowds are kept far apart. The Indian village across the border is Hussainiwala. "Ganda Singh Wala-Hussainiwala border ceremony" is attended mostly by local Punjabis on either side of the border.