Rally in Pakistan to express solidarity with country's armed forces, and across the border, Indians celebrate the planned return of air force pilot who was downed and captured by Pakistan on Wednesday
Television footage showed Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman walking across the border near the town of Wagah just before 9 pm . A pilot shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani aircraft returned to India on Friday, after being freed in what Islamabad called a "peace gesture" following the two countries' biggest standoff in years.
"This check-up is mandated particularly because the officer has had to eject from an aeroplane," Air Vice Marshal R G K. Kapoor told reporters near a border crossing in India's northern state of Punjab.Pakistan plans to lodge a complaint against India at the United Nations, accusing it of "eco-terrorism" over air strikes that damaged pine trees and brought the nuclear-armed nations to blows, a government minister said on Friday.
India has banned a largest social, political and religious group in India-administered Kashmir in an ongoing crackdown against rebels seeking the end of Indian rule in the disputed region. Police have already arrested at least 400 leaders and activists, mainly from the Jamaat-e-Islami, which seeks self-determination for the Himalayan region, which is divided between India and Pakistan since 1947 but claimed by both in its entirety.Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority said airspace closed this week amid tensions with neighbouring India would reopen for commercial flights from 1100 GMT on Friday.
He did not say when asked by reporters if India considered the return a de-escalation in the conflict. Speaking on Thursday to his party workers across the nation in a video conference, he said the enemy wants to destabilise the country. “I am going to talk to [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and I will request him to play his role in this connection,” Khan told a joint session of the parliament summoned after both countries claimed to have shot down each other's jets.
Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, said Pakistani troops later Thursday attacked forward posts along the Line of Control calling it an "unprovoked" violation of the 2003 cease-fire accord. Pakistan said it will release a captured Indian pilot in a "peace gesture", taking a step towards rapprochement as clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals ignited fears of a disastrous conflict.
He added that, as a sign of the crisis easing, India had handed over its file to Pakistan on the deadly suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir on February 14, which triggered the latest upsurge in tension.India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire through the night into Thursday morning in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a day after Islamabad said it shot down two Indian warplanes and captured a pilot.
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