Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the pilot was handed over "as a peace gesture"
AN INDIAN pilot has been freed after being shot down by Pakistan as it’s revealed he ate maps and crucial documents to stop secrets being stolen.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down on Wednesday amid rapidly escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had said the country were preparing to hand Varthaman over "as a peace gesture".
Footage shows the pilot at the border in Wagah, surrounded by military officials and wearing a civilian suit, being walked back to Indian soil.
The handover had been expected at around 11am local time, but it was just after 9pm that it finally occurred.
He had been taken in a convoy that set out from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore to the border crossing at Wagah earlier in the day, escorted by military vehicles with soldiers, their weapons drawn.
Varthaman was accompanied to the border by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and his handover took several hours as a roster of procedures were completed including a medical checkup to verify his health and condition before being handed over to his countrymen.
New Outlet reported that upon ejected the experienced pilot jumped into a pond and destroyed his documents by eating them.
Earlier in the day images showed hundreds of Indians waving flags all over the country and waiting for the pilot to be handed over.
Despite Pakistan's gesture, India made it clear that going forward it will strike, including inside Pakistan, if they receive intelligence of an attack in the planning.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier Thursday warned: "India's enemies are conspiring to create instability in the country through terror attacks".
Also Friday, Pakistan's civil aviation authority partially re-opened the country's airspace, allowing travel to four major cities, another sign tensions with archrival India were de-escalating.
Varthaman was shot down in the first dog fight between the two nations in nearly 50 years.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said the Pakistan air force had shot down two jets after they crossed the border leading to the capture on Wednesday.
The captive pilot's handover came against the backdrop of blistering cross-border attacks across the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that continued for a fourth straight day.
Tens of thousands of Indian and Pakistani soldiers continue to face off along the Kashmir boundary known as the Line of Control, in one of the world's most volatile regions.
The dog fight followed India bombing what they said was a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp in Balakot - located in a remote valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26.
This was in retaliation to a suicide bombing claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad which killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Pulwama, in Indian Administered Kashmir, on February 14.
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has been allowed to operate inside Pakistan despite being officially banned by the government.
Shortly after the shoot down a video started circulating on social media of the bloodied pilot being attacked by an angry mob.
Later in the day on Wednesday a second video showed Varthaman enjoying a cup of tea, and thanking Pakistan for treating him with dignity as a military officer.
Yesterday Indian Air Force Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said "we are happy our pilot is being released,” but refused to say whether it was the start of a de-escalation in the conflict.
Before the release tensions were threatening to hit boiling point, with the Pakistani Prime Minister making a chilling hint towards the threat of all-out nuclear warfare.
During a televised address, Khan asked the chilling question: "Can we afford any miscalculation with the kind of weapons that we have and you have?"
Relations between the two countries have been fraught since their since independence from Britain in 1947.
There have been three full-scale conflicts since then and only the 1971 war, which was over the liberation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), was not caused by the so-called Kashmir issue.
Both countries, which began developing nuclear weapons in the 1970s, claim control over Muslim-majority Kashmir but only control parts of it.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
