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The Indian fighter pilot beaten and held captive after his plane was shot down by Pakistan’s air force will be released on Friday.
Key points:
- Pakistan’s Prime Minister said the release of the airman would be a peace offering
- The pilot was captured after his plane was shot down by Pakistan’s air force, following rising tensions with India
- Mr Khan says he wants to engage in peace talks with New Delhi
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said the airman would be freed as a “goodwill gesture” toward India.
He did not say whether the release was conditional.
Mr Khan made the announcement in an address to both houses of Parliament, saying he tried to reach his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Wednesday with a message that he wants to de-escalate tension.
There was no immediate reaction from India, though Mr Modi earlier in the day warned that “India’s enemies are conspiring to create instability in the country through terror attacks”.
The Pakistani leader also said that he had feared Wednesday night that India might launch a missile attack, but the situation was later defused.
He did not elaborate.
Tense situation threatens to boil over
World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions gripping the contested region since a February 14 suicide bombing killed more than 40 Indian paramilitary troops in Kashmir in territory it controls.
India responded with a pre-dawn airstrike on Tuesday inside Pakistan, the first such raid since the two nations’ 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh.
The situation then escalated further with Wednesday’s aerial skirmish, which saw Pakistan say it shot down two Indian aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan-held part of Kashmir and the other in India-controlled Kashmir.
India acknowledged one of its MiG-21s, a Soviet-era fighter jet, was “lost” in skirmishes with Pakistan.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said late Wednesday that it “strongly objected to Pakistan’s vulgar display of an injured personnel of the Indian Air Force,” and that it expects his immediate and safe return.
India also said it shot down a Pakistani warplane, something Islamabad denied.
Kashmir has been divided but claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after the two countries’ creation in 1947.
They have fought three wars against each other, two directly dealing with the disputed region.
Both Indian and Pakistani officials reported small-arms fire and shelling along the Kashmir region into Thursday morning.
There were no reported casualties.
Pilot beaten by villagers
The airman was attacked by a mob of angry villagers after surviving the crash landing.
Footage of his beating was posted on social media, with a clip posted to Twitter by Pakistan’s information ministry showing him blindfolded, saying, “I’ve got hurt and I would request some water”.
Another clip shows a Pakistani soldier shielding the pilot from angry villagers and shouting “enough” as they attempted to attack him.
India has not confirmed the man’s identity, but Indian media have given his name as Abhinandan Varthaman.
Supporters of the airman launched a social media campaign to secure his release, posting under the hashtag #BringBackAbhinandan.
Later, in a video released by Pakistan’s military, the captured airman is shown without a blindfold, appearing more relaxed, thanking the Pakistani army and sipping tea.
“The officers of the Pakistani Army have looked after me well, they are thorough gentlemen,” he said.
ABC/AP
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