Attari-Wagah is the only road crossing between India and Pakistan in Punjab and for long periods it was the only one on the whole border open to civilians.
The flag lowering ceremony, held every evening since 1959, has become a nightly performance with stands on both sides holding thousands, exaggerated marching, and a coordinated lowering of both flags at sunset. The two forces rehearse it together.
The village of Attari is the home village of Sham Singh Attariwala Ji, who died at Sobraon in 1846 refusing to leave the field. The crossing takes its name from his family.
The Samjhauta Express ran through here from 1976 until it was suspended in 2019. On 18 February 2007 bombs on the train killed 68 people, most of them Pakistani civilians.
Bilateral trade through Attari was suspended in 2019. Afghan goods kept crossing until 2025, and the last consignment arrived in June of that year. Apart from those trucks, for most of the last few years the only things crossing have been a small number of people with visas, and the flags.
The village is named for the Attariwala family, who founded it, and Sham Singh Attariwala Ji's haveli stands there.
The check post at the crossing was built for trade and has handled almost none since 2019. The infrastructure is there and the traffic is not.
The village's land runs up to the line and part of it lies beyond the fence. What the ceremony brings in each evening reaches the village barely at all.