Hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that captured IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be freed on Friday, the Indian Air Force said it is very happy that he is returning home but dismissed suggestions that it was a goodwill gesture. The IAF insisted that it was in line with the Geneva Conventions.
Imran Khan announced in Pakistan Parliament on Thursday that Varthaman would be released on Friday as a "peace gesture".
"We are very happy Abhinandan will be freed tomorrow and look forward to his return," Air Vice Marshal R G K Kapoor, assistant chief of Air Staff, told the media.
The move by Imran Khan to release IAF pilot comes at the back of unrelentless pressure by the Indian establishment as well as the international community, both of whom have condemned Pakistan sponsored terrorisim and its repurcusions on the security forces as well as civilians in the Kashmir Valley.
Calling it a "peace gesture", in what is being seen as a diplomatic victory for India, Khan told a joint session of the Pakistan National Assembly that the India-Pakistan situation should not "get out of hand" or otherwise Islamabad "will have to retaliate".
The announcement about Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman -- taken prisoner a day earlier -- came hours after India demanded his release and ruled out talks on the issue, saying Pakistan cannot use this issue for a deal.
Khan said countries were ruined because of miscalculation and alleged that there was a "war hysteria" in India.
"I'm afraid there might be a miscalculation. War is not a solution. If India takes any action, we will have to retaliate," he said at the session called to discuss the rising tensions with India.
"The only purpose of our strike (on India on Wednesday) was to demonstrate our capability and will," he said. "We did not want to inflict any casualty on India as we wanted to act in a responsible manner."
He said he tried to call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the telephone on Wednesday because "escalation is not in our interests nor in India's".