Indian Pilot to Be Freed Friday as 'Peace Gesture', Says Pakistan PM
Image Coutesy: Inkhabar
The captured Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot will be freed on Friday "as a peace gesture", Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Thursday.
Addressing a joint session of the National Assembly, Khan said that the India-Pakistan situation should not "get out of hand", otherwise "Pakistan will have to retaliate", The Dawn reported.
"Countries are ruined because of miscalculation," said Khan. Alleging "war hysteria" in India, he said: "I'm afraid there might be a miscalculation.”
"War is not a solution. If India takes any action, we will have to retaliate."
The joint session of Parliament was 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," said the Prime Minister. "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".
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the IAF was captured by Pakistanis on Wednesday after his Mig was shot down and fell in Pakistani territory during a dogfight.
Also read: Uri, a War Zone? Report From Ground Zero
Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
