Mercedes Vs Dump Truck: Internet Reacts To Viral Video Of Flooding At Pakistan's Wagah Border

Amid deadly floods in Pakistan, a video from the iconic Wagah-Attari border has gon viral on social media, showing floodwaters deluging the Pakistani side, while the Indian side remained clean and orderly. The video was taken during a Beating Retreat ceremony, where Pakistani rangers can be seen performing the regular drill before the flag-lowering ceremony, while standing in ankle-deep water on the Wagha side of the border. 

Sandbags and piles of bricks can also be seen stacked at several points on the Pakistani side in an effort to manage the flooding. In stark contrast, the Indian side was visibly drier, aside from a small patch of water pooled near the gates of the international border.

NDTV could not independently verify when the video was taken, but it appeared on social media for the first time on April 27. 

However, Atul Fulzele, Border Security Force (BSF) Inspector General, Punjab Frontier, told the Times of India that there has been no waterlogging at any of the three sites of the ceremonial flag-lowering ceremonies -- Attari, Hussainiwala, and Sadqi-- in the last few days. 

He informed that incessant and heavy rainfall was reported near the Wagha border on August 8-9, and the video was likely from that period.

Social Media Reacts

Reacting to the flooding, several social media users recalled Pakistan's Army chief Asim Munir's recent analogy, comparing India to a shining Mercedes and Pakistan to a dump truck. 

Posting the video on X, one user wrote, "Scenes at Wagah- Attari Border. Clearly a shining mercedes on one side and a dump truck on another side."

Another wrote, "A shining Mercedes on one side and dump truck on other side. 😂 Even nature is mocking Pakistan."

Earlier this months, while speaking at a private dinner in Florida last week,  Munir used the unusual "crude analogy"-- as he himself called it-- to describe the two neighbours.

"I am going to use a crude analogy to explain the situation... India is a shining Mercedes coming on a highway like a Ferrari, but we are a dump truck full of gravel. If the truck hits the car, who will be the loser?" Munir, who was on his second visit to the US in two months, reportedly said.

Pakistan Floods

Pakistan has evacuated at least 150,000 people in areas along three rivers in its agricultural heartland under threat of flooding after India warned it plans to release excess water from a dam earlier this week. The release of excess water threatens to further inundate part of Pakistan's Punjab province, which serves as the country's breadbasket and accounts for a large part of its food supply.

Three rivers - Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab - flow into Pakistan from India. Those rivers are seeing medium to high flooding, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said on Tuesday.