Pakistan releases captured Indian pilot as a goodwill gesture

Pakistan has released Indian fighter pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan. He will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagha Bord

His release was announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan as a peace gesture during a speech in Joint Session of the Parliament yesterday.

Wing Commander Abhinandan was arrested on Wednesday when his aircraft was shot down by Pakistan Air Force after violation of Pakistan air-space.

Pakistan`s decision of releasing India’s captive pilot Wing Commander, Abhinandan has been widely acknowledged and lauded in India.

Indian journalists took it to twitter to express their applauds for the announcemnt made by Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding release of the Indian pilot. Renowened Indian journalaist Rajdeep Sardesai wrote that Pakistan`s Prime Minster Imran Khan at the moment is winning the day by taking the moral high ground while our leaders are busy calculating votes.

Barkha Dutt tweeted that we should welcome this gesture from Pakistan`s Prime Minister on the release of Abhinandan.

She criticized the Indian hysteric media that as the door for de-escalation has been opened through this decision of Pakistan, it is not the time for needless gloating by our television anchors.

Indian photojournalist Smita Sharma expressed relief over the announcement of release of pilot. She wrote that she is so relieved to hear that Abhinandan Vartaman will soon be back home. She said thank you to Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sagarika Ghose tweeted that with apologies and respect to Modiji, today he has been outdone and outshone in diplomacy, war strategy and public outreach by a swashbuckling cricket captain-Imran Khan. A Delhi-based journalist Aditya Menon said Indian Government has been caught completely unawares by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s peace gesture of releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Vartaman.

He added that no one in Indian government can with any honesty spin this in government’s favor.

Indian author Harinder Baweja lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan writing that Imran Khan knows how to steal the headlines.

Cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu termed the release of Indian pilot a noble act and said this goodwill gesture is ‘a cup of joy’ for billion of people. Meanwhile, hashtags “Pakistan leads with peace,” “Nobel Peace Prize for Imran Khan” and “Go Back Modi” remained leading trends on twitter throughout the day.
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