Activities at the Wagah Border: Perspectives on National Security, Sociology of Law, and Military Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65310/92jt3856Keywords:
Wagah Border, National Security, Sociology Of Law, Military Law, Border Governance.Abstract
This community service-based empirical study examines activities at the Wagah Border through the integrated perspectives of national security, sociology of law, and military law. Using participatory field observation, structured interviews with military personnel and visitors, and qualitative document analysis, the research explores how ceremonial and security practices function as instruments of state sovereignty, legal order, and social regulation. The findings indicate that the Beating Retreat Ceremony operates not merely as a symbolic performance but as a structured security mechanism governed by hierarchical command, regulated force expression, and institutional accountability. Patterns of public compliance and coordinated inter-agency control reflect the internalization of legal norms within both military institutions and civilian audiences. The border space thus emerges as a socio-legal arena where national identity, deterrence signaling, and rule-based discipline converge in a controlled yet highly performative environment. The study demonstrates that military law and security governance at Wagah contribute to regional stability by institutionalizing order, reinforcing legal legitimacy, and fostering civic awareness of state authority within a geopolitically sensitive boundary zone.
Downloads
References
Abro, A. A. (2025). The Geopolitical Impact of Pakistan’s Victory in the Four-Day War with India. Global Strategic Pulse: CISSS Journal of Geopolitical & Geo-economic Studies, 2(1), 73-90. https://doi.org/10.64988/7b2kj579
Ahmed, F., & Baloch, J. A. (2024). Geopolitical Changing Dynamics of Pak-India Relations during 2012 to 2022: An Analysis. Annals of Human and Social Sciences, 5(3), 333-342. https://doi.org/10.35484/ahss.2024(5-III)31
Ahmed, S. (2021). Sociology of Law in South Asia. Karachi: Legal Studies Institute.
Ahmed, Z. S., & Jahanzaib, M. (2025). Conflicts and the Politicisation of Trade: Implications for Economic Cooperation in South Asia. In GEO-ECONOMICS IN SOUTH ASIAN ENVIRONMENT (pp. 115-132). https://doi.org/10.1142/13990
Akmal, A., Zaheer, F., Shuja, B., & Tariq, A. (2025). Infrastructural Diplomacy and Regional Reconciliation: Evaluating Pakistan’s Motorway Development as a Strategic Tool for Neighbourhood Engagement. Research Journal for Social Affairs, 3(6), 657-666. https://doi.org/10.71317/RJSA.003.06.0494
Ausaf, H., & Pervez, M. S. (2025). Stranded in legal ambiguity: Gilgit-Baltistan’s fight for identity. Strategic Analysis, 49(2), 165-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2025.2523187
Bochkovskaya, A. V. (2022). Emotions at the Border: Verbal Aspects of the Attari-Wagah Patriotic Pilgrimage. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 10(4), 5. https://doi.org/10.21427/7d07-fq76
Gana, I., Adamu, O., & Zakariya'u, M. (2023). Transnational security threats and border management: A study of cross-border crime challenges at the Nigeria-Niger border. African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies, 16(2), 748-761. https://doi.org/10.4314/ajpas.v16i2.39
Gangothri, T. S., & Boopathi, P. (2024). Humanizing the Line: Indo-Pak Border in Ashvin Kumar’s Little Terrorist. Peace Review, 36(3), 471-480. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2024.2356857
Kausar, A., & Ahmad, R. (2022). Border Security and National Sovereignty: India-Pakistan Case Studies. Lahore: National Security Press.
Khan, M. (2018). National Security and Border Management in South Asia. Islamabad: Defense Research Journal.
Mirdha, P. (2024). Remembering stories across boundaries: Crossing ‘the visible invisible’borders in Geetanjali shree’s novel Ret samadhi/tomb of sand. http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/2454-1753.2024.00011.3
Nawaz, Z., Mohsin, M., Naeem, M., Mushtaq, K., & Nazeer, M. A. (2024). Pakistan’s Economic and Trade Potential in Regional and Global Power Shifts: A Way Forward. Journal of Asian Development Studies, 13(2), 623-635. https://doi.org/10.62345/jads.2024.13.2.50
Opilowska, E., Bączkiewicz, D., Sarmiento-Mirwaldt, K., Nicolson, M. J., Engl, A., Mitterhofer, J., ... & Nilson, T. (2024). Progress report on borderlanders’ perceptions of Europe discussing theoretical concepts, outlining the need for further empirical research. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14526322
Pakistan Army. (2020). Military Law and Protocols. Rawalpindi: Ministry of Defense Publications.
Patel, T. A. (2023). Bordering and Othering: Encounters at Shrine of Chamliyal at the India-Pakistan Border. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38(3), 507-526. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2021.1948901
Sadiq, M., & Ali, I. (2023). Challenges of nuclear deterrence stability in South Asia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 58(8), 1511-1527. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096221090636
Scott, J. W. (2025). From bordering to border thinking: interdisciplinarity and the significance of cognition in border studies. In Border Studies (pp. 68-84). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800375390.00011
Sharma, D. (2023). Language and Borders. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.722
Singh, P. (2019). Wagah Border Ceremony: Cultural and Strategic Perspectives. New Delhi: Heritage Publications.
Talbot, I. (2025). The Lahore-Amritsar Borderland and Indo-Pakistan Relations during the Early Postcolonial Period. Critical Pakistan Studies, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1017/cps.2025.2
Usman, M., & Harder, H. (2025). Gespielte Aggression, echte Begeisterung: Ein tägliches Vor und Zurück: die Zeremonie an der Wagah-Grenze. Ruperto Carola, (25), 70-77. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.ruca.2025.25.25098
Wibianto, M. Y., Hartiwiningsih, H., & Handayani, I. G. A. K. R. (2025). Real Justice, Real Impact with the Prosecutors in Action. Journal of Human Rights, Culture and Legal System, 5(3), 1015-1041. https://doi.org/10.53955/jhcls.v5i3.804
Zahid-ul-Islam-Dar, Kaur, S., & Chattu, V. K. (2025). Barriers to Indo-Pak trade: A case study of land routes. Millennial Asia, 16(1), 78-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/09763996231155632
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Arief Fahmi Lubis (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.










