‘Release Abhinandan’: Pak leader says frightened foreign minister had claimed India would attack
National Assembly member Ayaz Sadiq recounts purported statement made by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi.
A video of Pakistani parliamentarian Ayaz Sadiq quoting Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi’s statement on Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman in a meeting where army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was present has gone viral on social media.
Sadiq said Qureishi’s “legs were shaking” as he entreated that the captured IAF pilot be set free, for “India will attack Pakistan by 9 pm”. There was no attack planned, and they (Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government) just had to surrender to India, Sadiq said.
Varthaman was flying a MiG-21 fighter jet when he was captured by Pakistan in February 2019 after his aircraft went down during a dogfight between Indian and Pakistani aircraft. He was released and returned to India on March 1, 2019.