Pakistan will release Indian pilot as 'peace gesture': Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD – Agence France-Presse

This still image taken from video circulated by Pakistan's military shows a man who identified himself as the pilot of an Indian military aircraft that was shot down on Feb. 27 over a part of the mountainous Kashmir region controlled by Pakistan. (Pakistan Armed Forces via AP)

Pakistan will release a captured Indian pilot on March 1, Prime Minister Imran Khan told a joint session of parliament on Feb. 28, in an overture towards New Delhi after soaring tensions fueled fears of conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.

"As a peace gesture we are releasing the Indian pilot tomorrow," Khan said, a day after Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down in a rare aerial engagement between the South Asian neighbours over the disputed region of Kashmir.