NEW DELHI: IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, dressed in a blue blazer, white shirt and beige trousers, crossed the gates at the Attari-Wagah border and officially entered Indian soil on Friday at around 9.30 pm.
Thousands of spectators and media persons stood at the Attari-Wagah border as the show unfolded at the gates.
Pakistani soldiers checked and cross-checked their papers, went back to Abhinandan, made him wait for a few more minutes.
Then the gates finally opened and Abhinandan Varthaman entered India after remaining in captivity in Pakistan for over two days.
Media on the Pakistani side were stopped by authorities around 1.5 kilometres from the border.The pilot’s parents were given a standing ovation by fellow passengers as they boarded a flight to Amritsar near Wagah to welcome their son.
Pakistan had also released a video of the IAF pilot sipping tea and talking to a Pakistani military official on Wednesday, hours after his capture.
Varthaman was captured by Pakistani authorities on February 27 after an air combat between the air forces of the two countries, a day after New Delhi had conducted counter-terror operations in Pakistan’s Balakot.
Wing Commander Abhinandan was fighting off Pakistani F-16 jets when the Pakistani military shot down his MiG 21. Though he managed to eject from the jet, he crossed over to Pakistani territory.
