Pakistan will release Indian pilot Friday as ‘peace gesture’
Move comes after tensions soar between nuclear-armed rivals following rare aerial clash
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan will release a captured Indian pilot on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan told a joint session of parliament Thursday, in an overture towards New Delhi after soaring tensions fueled fears of conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.
“As a peace gesture we are releasing the Indian pilot tomorrow,” Khan said, a day after Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down in a rare aerial engagement between the South Asian neighbors over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Pakistan initially said it downed two Indian jets in its airspace and captured two pilots, but later its military spokesman tweeted that there was “only one pilot” in Pakistani custody.
India’s foreign ministry had demanded the “immediate and safe return” of the pilot, calling on Pakistan to ensure no harm comes to him.
New Delhi also confirmed the loss of one of its planes and said it had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet.
In a sign of the deepening crisis, Pakistan closed its airspace “until further notice.” At least six airports were shuttered in India, and a vast area north of New Delhi was closed to civilian flights.
“We do not want to go towards war,” Pakistan’s military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told a press conference Wednesday.
