Sources: Pakistan has changed the timing of handover of IAF's Wing Commander #AbhinandanVarthaman twice. Indian defence minister is keeping a close watch on proceedings. The handover might now take place at 9 pm tonight. pic.twitter.com/2GUIzhrP89
Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman left for the Wagah Border in a convoy of vehicles, two days after he was captured. Pakistani officials will hand over him to the Indian officials at the Attari-Wagah Border crossing here, according to wire agency PTI.
PM Modi: These are the same people whose statements are helping Pakistan & harming India. They are the same people whose statements are being happily quoted in Parliament of Pakistan & in the radio of Pakistan. I want to ask them- do you support our armed forces or suspect them? https://t.co/pZkquKNsdM
The daily retreat ceremony held at the Attari-Wagah border has been cancelled for Friday, PTI reported citing an unnamed Indian Border Security Force official.
The martial ceremony has been called off due to administrative requirements in the wake of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman's release post noon at this frontier, the official said.
The public will not be allowed in the ceremony area that is located in the Attari of Punjab along the India-Pakistan border, the BSF official added.
Hours after Pakistan announced its decision to release Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, India conveyed to Islamabad that it wants him to be sent back via aerial route and not through the Wagah land border, official sources told PTI.
However, late in the night, Pakistan communicated to India that he will be returned through the Attari-Wagah border.
The Indian defence establishment was also mulling over sending a special aircraft to Pakistan to bring back Wing Commander Varthaman who was captured by Pakistan during an aerial combat on Wednesday.
Varthaman will now return home through the Wagah border which is around 25 km from Lahore in Pakistan.
The latest standoff started on Tuesday, after India said its jets launched airstrikes to destroy insurgent bases inside Pakistan. The target was a terror training camp run by the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide car bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.
Following the bombing of the JeM training camp, the Pakistan Air Force attempted a retaliatory strike on Indian military installations. Indian armed forces said they foiled the attack and shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet. India lost a MiG 21 aircraft in the operation, and the pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by Pakistan.
Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who is in Pakistan’s custody, is expected to be returned this afternoon.
Pakistani officials will hand over the captured pilot to India at the Wagah border post between the two nations on Friday afternoon, Geo television channel reported.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday announced that Varthaman will be released on Friday as "peace gesture".
