ShareMUZAFFARABAD/SRINAGAR: A flare-up between arch-foes India and Pakistan appeared to be easing yesterday after Islamabad handed back a captured Indian pilot, but tensions continued to simmer amid efforts by global powers to prevent a war between the nuclear-armed neighbors Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face and symbol of the biggest clash between India and Pakistan in many years, walked across the border just before 9 pm on Friday in a high-profile handover shown on live television.
Shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) that acts as a de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, a frequent feature in recent weeks, continued yesterday. Pakistan's military said yesterday its air force and navy "continue to be alert and vigilant". In a fearsome 24 hour spell, two soldiers and two civilians died on the Pakistan side, its military said. On the Indian side, a woman and her two children died after their house was pulverized by a mortar shell. Indian army chief Bipin Rawat dashed to Udhampur in his country's sector of Kashmir yesterday to review border security. Across the region villagers huddled in makeshift bunkers while police ordered non-essential traffic off roads, an AFP reporter said. At least 12 civilians have been killed on either side of the frontier since the start of the week.
Pakistan touted Abhinandan's return as "as a goodwill gesture aimed at de-escalating rising tensions with India" after weeks of unease that threatened to spiral into war after both countries used jets for bombing missions this week. Global powers, including China and the United States, have urged restraint to prevent another conflict between the neighbors who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
There was no let-up in war rhetoric with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying no-one could "dare threaten" a "new, fearless and decisive" India. Modi also told an India Today media group conference the country needed the Rafale fighter jets it wants to buy from France. The deal has been embroiled in corruption allegations leveled by the opposition Congress party. "If India had the procured the Rafale on time then the result of the recent skirmish with Pakistan could have been different," Modi said.
In a bid to defuse the tensions, Adel Al-Jubeir, minister of state for foreign affairs for Saudi Arabia, a key Pakistan ally, was to arrive in Islamabad today, underlining global concern over the showdown. Saudi Arabia has offered to help to end the new hostilities. "He is visiting us and and will also visit India. He is our friend and we have historical relations with them (Saudi Arabia)," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters.
Tensions escalated rapidly following a suicide car bombing on Feb 14 that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of harboring the Jaish-e Mohammad group behind the attack, which Islamabad denied, and Modi promised a strong response.
Indian warplanes carried out air strikes on Tuesday inside Pakistan on what New Delhi called militant camps. Islamabad denied any such camps existed, as did local villagers in the area, but Pakistan retaliated on Wednesday with its own aerial mission, that led to both sides claiming to have shot down jets. The standoff came at a critical time for Modi, who faces a general election that must be held by May and who had been expected to benefit from nationalist pride unleashed by the standoff.
Pakistani leaders say the ball is now in India's court to de-escalate the tensions, though the Pakistani army chief told top military leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia on Friday that his country would "surely respond to any aggression in self-defense". The Indian pilot's ordeal since being shot down on Wednesday had made him the focal point of the crisis and he returned to his homeland to a hero's welcome, with crowds thronging the Wagah border crossing and waving Indian flags.
Before his release, Pakistani television stations broadcast video of Abhinandan in which he thanked the Pakistani army for saving him from an angry crowd who chased him after seeing him parachute to safety. "The Pakistani army is a very professional service," he said. "I have spent time with the Pakistan army. I am very impressed."
Qureshi said the country had acted with prudence in releasing the pilot. "There was no pressure on Pakistan to release him nor any compulsion," he told BBC Urdu. "We wanted to convey to them that we do not want to increase your sorrow, we do not want to mistreat your citizens, we just want peace." Pakistan media praised the government for releasing the pilot, with lawyer Shahzaib Khan writing in the Express Tribune that Prime Minister Imran Khan had "done Pakistan proud by not engaging in chest thumping or war-mongering for political gain."
On Friday, four Indian troops and one civilian were killed in a clash with militants in the Indian-administered Kashmir, where a further three people were killed and one wounded from Pakistani shelling. Pakistan's military said two civilians were killed and two wounded since Friday afternoon on Pakistan's side of Kashmir from a barrage of Indian shelling. In a sign of the unease, residents say they are afraid another conflagration is likely. "The way situation is developing along the LoC makes me feel that both sides may collide head-on anytime now," said Chaudhry Jahangir, a Pakistani resident of the Samahni sector in Kashmir. - Agencies
