Pakistan Returns Captured Indian Pilot as Tensions Ease

India welcomes return of pilot, won't say if it will deescalate conflict

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that he has ordered the release of the Indian pilot captured earlier this week in a shoot-down over Indian airspace. Khan described his return as a “gesture for peace.”

The pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was released on Friday. On Wednesday, his MiG-21 was shot down in Pakistani airspace. He was subsequently beaten up by a mob of locals before being captured by the Pakistani military.

The shoot-downs are part of several days of escalating violence along the Line of Control, with the two large, nuclear-armed states escalating their military action, and describing themselves to remain “on high alert.”

Though this release has clearly eased a lot of the tensions, military on neither side seems willing to admit it. India’s military says they “welcome” the release of their pilot, but said they would not say if they think this will amount to a deescalation of the conflict itself.

It seems likely, however, that this will have something of a calming effect going forward. Right now, both militaries are eager to present the conflict is unstoppable, and totally the other side’s fault, but India and Pakistan have had such engagements many times, and the hope is that cooler heads will once again prevail.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.