Nepal, Aug. 15 -- There are few performances in South Asia more elaborate, physically strenuous, or perplexingly admired than the daily Beating Retreat ceremony conducted by the Indo-Pakistani border forces at the Wagah-Attari border crossing.

Tourists arrive hours in advance, vendors of tricolour souvenirs and green crescents ply their trade, and loudspeakers blare competing patriotic anthems across a road bisected by a heavy metal gate. As sunset approaches, the atmosphere thickens-not with the sombre solemnity typical of international borders, but with the anticipatory buzz of a major sporting event.

Then, as if summoned by the theatrical logic of the arena, soldiers erupt onto the parade ground. Limbs swing, chests thrust forward, a...