Pakistan has handed back captured Indian Air Force’s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to India on Friday evening.
It comes after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan told a joint session of parliament that he would be released on Friday ‘as a peace gesture’.
He was returned to India at the Wagah border, the India-Pakistan border, close to Amritsar in Punjab.
Indians shout slogans carrying a huge garland as they wait to welcome Indian pilot at India Pakistan border at Wagah, near Amritsar, India, March 1, 2019. Source: AP
Congress President Rahul Gandhi said he had made them proud.
Tensions soared after both countries shot down each other's fighter jets on Wednesday leading to the capture of Wing Commander Abhinandan and fuelling fear of conflict between the two nations.
“Wing Comd Abhi Nandan is being treated as per norms of military ethics,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, the spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces announced on Twitter.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan (l) screenshot of captured India Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman (r) Source: AAP
In a meeting with the Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan to India, India’s Ministry of External Affairs demanded the Indian Air Force pilot’s immediate and safe return.
“It was made clear that Pakistan would be well advised to ensure that no harm comes to the Indian defence personnel in its custody. India also expects his immediate and safe return,” the statement read.
The series of events followed the Pulwama attack in India-administered Kashmir where over 40 army personnel were killed by a suicide bomber on February 14th, following which India claims to have carried out air strikes on the alleged training camps of Jaish-e-Mohamad on Pakistani soil in Balakot, around 80 km from the Line of Control (LoC) on February 26th.
Indian air force Wing Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman drives out from the Integrated Check Post on the Indian side of the border in Attari, Friday, March 1, 2019. Source: AAP
At least 30 CRPF jawans were killed and many others injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast (Photo by Waseem Andrabi/Hindustan Times/Sipa USA ). Source: SIPA USA
