Pakistan's substandard action delays Indian 'hero' Abhinandan Varthaman's return

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Pakistan's substandard action delays Indian 'hero' Abhinandan Varthaman's return
Pakistan's substandard action delays Indian 'hero' Abhinandan Varthaman's return

New Delhi : Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was supposed to return on Friday morning, walked home back in the night around 9.25 PM. A report claims that Pakistan tried to extract a 'confession' out of him in Lahore that delayed his arrival in India.

Staying in Pakistan for almost 60 hours, he returned home via Wagah-Attari border, after Pakistan rejected India's demand to fly him back in an IAF fighter jet.

Dressed in blue blazer and grey trouser, he was accompanied to the border by Group captain Joy Thomas Kurien.

"It's good to be back home," Amritsar deputy commissioner Shivdular Singh Dhillon quoted Abhinandan as saying.

Since morning a huge crowd had been waiting for his arrival at the Wagah-Attari border.

A “confession” was extracted from Abhinandan praising Pakistan at an ISI facility in Lahore. Indian officials said this was extracted under duress and had only undermined Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s “peace gesture” of releasing him. “This was in complete violation of the Geneva Conventions,’’ said a senior official, while talking about how quickly the video had made its way to the Pakistan media. 

He will also undergo a “debriefing session” on his captivity in the custody of the Pakistan army.

“Wing Commander Abhinandan has just been handed over to us. He will be taken now for a detailed medical checkup. This checkup is mandatory as he had to eject from an airplane which would have put his entire body under stress,” said Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor in a brief statement to reporters before a fleet of vehicles left the border crossing for Amritsar, from where Varthaman was set to be flown to New Delhi.