India-Pakistan news: Imran Khan says Pakistan will release captured Indian pilot ‘as a peace gesture’
Steps taken to ease the tensions as Imran Khan calls for talks
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Pakistan has said it will release the Indian pilot that was captured yesterday as a “gesture of peace”, prime minister Imran Khan announced.
The pilot, who is currently in custody, will be allowed to leave on Friday as efforts to cool the crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours continues.
Locals were forced to flee from their homes in Kashmir as India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire through the night.
Jet fighters were seen over the mountainous region one day after the two nuclear-armed nations had claimed to have shot down each other’s warplanes.
There were no immediate reports of casualties but those living in the disputed region were seen fleeing the area with no imminent ceasefire in sight.
Members of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharitiya Janata Party (BJP) called for more military action, suggesting the conflict could worsen.
An Indian government source told The Independent that relations with Pakistan would not return to normal, even with the return of their pilot.
World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions which started after a suicide car bombing on 14 February killed more than 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.
But the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Tuesday when India launched an air strike into Pakistani territory on what it said was a militant training base – the first such raid since the two nations’ 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh.
New Delhi claimed at least 300 militants were killed in the strike, while Pakistan said no one was killed.
The situation escalated further yesterday when Pakistan said it had shot down an Indian aircraft and captured a pilot.
India acknowledged one of its jets was “lost” and that its pilot was “missing in action”.
India also said it shot down a Pakistani plane, something Islamabad denied.
Here is how we covered the day's events
Russia's foreign minister has said Moscow is prepared to mediate between India and Pakistan.
This has just come in from The Independent's Asia Editor, Adam Withnall:
"An Indian government source tells The Independent that in Wednesday's encounter Indian jets did not cross line of control deliberately - that Indian plane only came down in Pakistani territory after it was shot, and that no other incursions were made."
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has said that the Indian pilot that has was captured yesterday will be released tomorrow in a good will gesture.
The Indian pilot shot down and captured by Pakistani forces this week will be released on Friday, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said as efforts to cool a crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours continued.
"As a peace gesture we will be releasing him tomorrow," Mr Khan told parliament in Islamabad
Imran Khan has said he has tried to reach his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi with a message that he wants to de-escalate tension but did not say how India responded to his initiative.
An Indian government source, speaking before Imran Khan's announcement in parliament, said relations with Pakistan will not return to normal even with the return of the captured Indian pilot.
India's airstrike on Pakistani soil on Tuesday was an act of counter-terrorism, not aggression, the government official said, and talks will only begin when Pakistan takes similar action against the militant threat within its borders.
The official said there was no conversation between Mr Khan and prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday night.
The Pakistani prime minister said he had attempted to reach out to his Indian counterpart by phone.
Imran Khan said that he had feared last night that India might launch a missile attack, but the situation was later defused. He did not elaborate.
Random fact about Kashmir for you - China controls a small part of the region.
China is in charge of the remote Aksai Chin plateau, historically part of Ladakh.
India fought a border war over Aksai Chin with China in 1962, after China occupied a 38,000 square km (14,000 square mile) chunk of territory.
Russia has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan in a bid to calm the tensions between the two countries.
Moscow has particularly close relations with India, which buys large quantities of Russian military equipment and its relationship with Pakistan has warmed in recent years.
When asked on Thursday if Russia was ready to help mediate between the two countries, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told the state-owned TASS news agency: “If they want this, then of course.”
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