Pakistan ready to free India pilot if leads to ‘de-escalation’

(FASTNEWS|COLOMBO) – Pakistan said Thursday it is prepared to release a captured Indian pilot if doing so will ease soaring tensions with India that have fuelled fears of conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.

“We are ready to hand over the Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told AFP, attributing the statement to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

He spoke a day after the pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was shot down in a rare aerial engagement between the South Asian neighbours over the disputed region of Kashmir.