IAF pilot freed, returns via Wagah

New Delhi: Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force, who had ejected into Pakistan after his MiG-21 fighter jet had got hit on Wednesday morning, walked back into India across the Wagah-Attari border late on Friday evening, sending a wave of joy across the country.

He was handed over to the BSF at around 9.20 pm by the Pakistani Rangers. Initially, Wg Cdr Varthaman was expected to be released at 5.30 pm, but finally emerged at the Wagah checkpost on the Pakistani side at only at 9.10 pm, accompanied by the Indian air attaché posted at the high commission in Islamabad and the director (India) at the Pakistan foreign office, Dr Fareha Bugti. He was wearing civilian clothes — a dark jacket and khaki trousers, walking proudly toward the gates that separated his captors’ country from his homeland.

“Welcome Home Wing Commander Abhinandan! The nation is proud of your exemplary courage. Our armed forces are an inspiration for 130 crore Indians. Vande Mataram!” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hoping to give a hero’s welcome to Wg Cdr Varthaman, thousands of Indians had gathered on the border carrying the tricolour and garlands since the morning, but as the day wore on and night fell there was no sign of the pilot. He finally emerged at 9.10 pm India time.

Wg Cdr Varthaman had shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet which had intruded into India on Wednesday and got hit during the dogfight  and ejected into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“Wing Commander Abhinandan has just been handed over to us. He will be taken now for a detailed medical checkup. This checkup is mandatory as he had to eject from an aircraft which would have put his entire body under stress,” Air Vice-Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor, assistant chief of air staff, told reporters in a brief statement at Attari, near Amritstar, on the Indian side of the border. After the checkup, the IAF plans to fly him to New Delhi, said sources.

The sources said Wg Cdr Varthaman’s family is in Delhi. “As per process he will meet his family for a brief period and then will be taken for debriefing,” sources had said during the day. The sources said that during debriefing,  Wg Cdr Varthaman will give the sequence of the events. “He will give details on how he was hit, where he landed, how he got caught and what he told the Pakistanis, as well as what documents they recovered from him and how he was treated,” the sources said. He is likely to give a briefing on what was the mood there and other things he sensed while in Pakistani custody.

Before his release, Pakistan made a video recording of Wg Cdr Varthaman, where he is heard talking about his
capture. The video is heavily edited and doesn’t have any credibility as it was shot while Wg Cdr Varthaman was in Pakistani custody and presumably under pressure. This was shown on Pakistani television.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber killed 40-plus CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama on February 14 by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Amid rising outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a major JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan, on February 26. The next day, Pakistan retaliated with a large air formation, of 24 fighter jets, including F-16s, in a bid to hit Indian military targets, which was unsuccessful.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Thursday told a special joint sitting of Pakistan’s Parliament that his government was releasing the pilot as a “peace gesture”. However, India said Pakistan’s decision was only in compliance with the Geneva Conventions. After the pilot’s release, the Pakistan foreign office described him as a prisoner of war. The Pakistan government was under tremendous international pressure to de-escalate the tensions with India and release the captured pilot.