Wing Commander Abhinandan Is Finally Back Home From Pakistan. A Tearful Nation Celebrates

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force (IAF) returned to India and was accorded a hero's welcome. Abhinandan was welcomed by the people at the Wagah border who had turned up in huge numbers since the morning. The development comes a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced in Parliament that Varthaman would be released on Friday as a "peace gesture".

Varthaman's MiG 21 was shot and he bailed out after bringing down one Pakistani F-16 fighter during a dogfight to repel a Pakistani attack on Wednesday morning. He has been in Pakistan since then.

Tensions between the two countries escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp near Balakot deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday. It came 12 days after the JeM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 soldiers.

IAF Wing Commander #AbhinandanVarthaman at Wagah-Attari border, to cross border soon to enter India. pic.twitter.com/a1hVjwroVw

¡ª ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2019

India on Wednesday demanded immediate and safe return of the IAF pilot.

"We are happy that our pilot who had fallen across the Line of Control and was in the custody of Pakistan is being released. We are extremely happy to have him back. We only see it as a gesture which is in consonance with the Geneva Conventions," Air Vice Marshal R G K Kapoor, the assistant chief of Air Staff, told a news conference.