Jammu: With guns falling silent along the border and line of control (LoC) and a thaw in Indo-Pak ties, it was a peaceful Republic Day in Jammu and Kashmir, as people came out to celebrate the national day with troops at border outposts (BOPs) and forward defence lines (FDLs) where the tricolour was unfurled for the first time in 15 years.

The ceasefire with Pakistan today (Jan 26, 2004) completing two months without any violation, flags were hoisted on all BOPs and FDLs along the 900 km-long international border and LoC amid parades and singing of National Anthem right on the zeroline for the first time in 15 years, top security officials said.

The main State function was held in Jammu at MAM stadium, with Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha taking the salute and unfurling the tricolour amid tight security.

In his Republic Day address, Sinha welcomed the warming up of Indo-Pak ties and commencement of bilateral dialogue and heaped praise on Pakistan, which has "at the highest level emphatically abjured terrorism as an instrument of policy and has committed itself to stopping cross border terrorism".

Srinagar, however, witnessed a quiet Republic Day, with most people staying indoors and vehicles remaining off the roads amidst unprecedented security at Lal Chowk and Bakshi stadium, the venue of the main celebrations.

The breakaway Geelani faction of Hurriyat Conference had given a call for boycott of Republic Day, but no untoward incident was reported from the State thus far.