Kashmiris pray for safe return of captured pilot

I hope he is safe there in true sense. I request Govt of #Pakistan to give him a chance to meet his family again & also treat him as POW. OMAR ABDULLAH, former chief minister, on Twitter

SRINAGAR: Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan, Kasmiris on Wednesday took to social media, rooting for the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot in Pakistan’s custody and praying for his safe return.

“Not a single Kashmiri on my timeline is asking for any harm to #Wing Commander Abhinandan in Pak custody, wanting him to be returned safe to India. And yet look at how Kashmiris were treated in Indian states post #Pulwamaattack,” wrote local journalist Majid Maqbool on Facebook.

On Wednesday, the IAF chased away intruding Pakistani fighter jets in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said IAF shot down one Pakistani fighter in aerial engagement and was seen falling from the sky on the Pakistani side. He also acknowledged that IAF lost a MIG 21 and a pilot was missing.pakistan claimed it had captured two Indian pilots, one of whom was identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. It retracted its statement in the evening and said it had “only one” pilot in its custody.

Indian government said that it expected his immediate and safe return. “Honestly, I strongly wish and pray that the Indian pilot in Pak custody is not harmed any which way and is returned to India in due course of time,” another netizen Amin Sofi, a university professor, wrote on Facebook.sheikh Saleem Bin Ahmed, a government employee, wrote: “Hope Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan will treat war prisoners as per the teachings of Islam. He has said that he want to make Pak a welfare state on the pattern of Medina”.

Sajjad Kargili, , tweeted: “I hope he is safe there in true sense I request Govt. of #Pakistan to give him a chance to meet his family again & also treat him as POW. Hope @narendramodi govt. will understand the problems & rethink about to maintain peace & avoid further escalation of war.”

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah wanted the PM to cancel his political activities till the pilot is home. “In the meantime Pakistan please treat him as you would have us treat one of your men in uniform should he be unfortunate enough to be captured on this side of the border,” he said.