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PAKISTAN-INDIA-KASHMIR-CONFLICT-PILOT-RELEASE
Pakistan ready to free India pilot if leads to ‘de-escalation’
ISLAMABAD, Feb 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan said Thursday it is prepared
to release a captured Indian pilot if doing so will ease soaring tensions
with India that have fuelled fears of conflict between the nuclear-armed
rivals.
“We are ready to hand over the Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation,”
foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told AFP, attributing the
statement to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
He spoke a day after the pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was
shot down in a rare aerial engagement between the South Asian neighbours over
the disputed region of Kashmir.
The incident was the latest in a dangerous sequence of events between the
two countries that have sent tensions rocketing, as major world powers
including China, the US and the UN urged restraint.
It sparked fears of India and Pakistan — who have fought two wars and
countless deadly skirmishes over Kashmir — entering a cycle of retaliation
and counterattacks that could spiral out of control.
Abhinandan, who rapidly attained hero status in his own country, has
become the face of the escalating conflict, with analysts touting him as a
potential trump card for Islamabad and perhaps the key to bringing the arch-
rivals back from the brink.
Earlier Thursday Faisal told reporters that the pilot “is with us, he is
safe and in good condition”.
A viral video purports to show Abhinandan being dragged and beaten by what
appears to be a group of men as Pakistani soldiers intervene, shouting “Stop!
Stop!”
Faisal admitted he had “some mishap before our officers reached there
because he was caught by the public”, but stressed his well-being.
“We will decide in a day or two whether he will be given the status of POW
or else,” he added.
But it was a later video released by the Pakistani military which showed
the pilot sipping tea, his face swollen and sporting bruises but otherwise
collected and calm, that was most seized upon in both India and Pakistan.
In it, he thanks the “thorough gentlemen” who rescued him from the mob and
compliments the tea as “fantastic”.
It was unclear if he had been coerced to speak.
The video was aired widely on Pakistani television channels, but none of
the footage was broadcast in India.
What happens to him next could prove central to de-escalating one of the
most serious confrontations between the rival neighbours in decades, analysts
say.
Any mistreatment of him could create huge anger in India and send tensions
soaring once more — but his safe release could “aid peace”, a retired Indian
general told AFP.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1616 hrs