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Captured Indian pilot at centre of Kashmir crisis to be released

Published

7 years ago

February 28, 2019

Pakistan calls decision to release the pilot ‘a peace gesture’, but India says it simply followed international norms.

The captured Indian fighter pilot, who was attacked by a mob and then paraded on video by Pakistan’s’s army, will be released, Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, had said.

A senior Indian Air Force official welcomed the move on Thursday evening, but added that Islamabad was simply following international norms around prisoners of war.

“We have an Indian pilot. As a peace gesture, we will release him tomorrow,” Pakistan’s Khan told a joint sitting of parliament in capital Islamabad on Thursday.

Khan also said he had unsuccessfully tried to make a telephone contact with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Wednesday night.

“Yesterday, I tried to call Narendra Modi,” Khan said. “I wanted to make it clear that we do not want any kind of escalation.”

India welcomed Pakistan’s decision to free the captured pilot, whose Mig-21 fighter was shot down during an aerial skirmish between the air forces of the two countries in the disputed region of Kashmir.

“We are extremely happy to have him back. We want to see him back,” India’s Air Vice Marshall RGK Kapoor told reporters in New Delhi.

“We only see it as a gesture which is in consonance with all Geneva conventions.”