IranPress/Asia: On Thursday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the pilot captured after the downing of an Indian Mig-29 fighter jet would be released on Friday 'as a peace gesture'.
The day before, Pakistani Prime Minister said that Islamabad would hand over to India one of the two Indian pilots captured by the Pakistani Army following his aircraft's downing over the Kashmir region.
Earlier, Pakistan claimed that it had downed two Indian warplanes which entered its airspace over the disputed Kashmir border; Pakistani Major General Asif Ghafoor announced that Pakistan had two Indian pilots in its custody.
Addressing the nation on Wednesday, Imran Khan in his speech said: "After Pulwama, we offered a hand to India for the investigation. It is not in the interest of Pakistan that its land is used. Moreover, there was no dispute we were ready to corporate with India but Pakistan was forced to respond. We had planned there was no collateral damage, we only wanted to give a message that we are capable of retaliating."
The incursion over the heavily militarized Line of Control comes a day after Indian warplanes carried out an air strike in Pakistan on what New Delhi said was a militant training camp, in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops on February 14.
Tensions have been running high between India and Pakistan since the February 14 bomb attack.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of being behind the assault, an allegation the Pakistani government denies. 208/104
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