Soldier, who crossed LoC, handed over to India

Pakistan says Chohan handed over to Indian authorities

as part of commitment to peace along border

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday handed over an Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chohan to the Indian authorities through the Wagah border as a goodwill gesture.

Chohan was earlier captured from the Line of Control (LoC) on Sept 29, 2016.

The decision to return the Indian soldier is based on humanitarian grounds and the commitment to ensure peace and tranquility at the LoC and the Working Boundary, the Foreign office spokesperson said in a press release.

He said despite the Indian belligerence, Pakistan believed in a peaceful neighbourhood and rejected all actions aimed at undermining the regional peace and security.

The press release added that the Indian soldier had deserted his check post in the Occupied Kashmir and crossed the LoC over severe grievances with his superiors and leadership.

Pakistan convinced the soldier to return to India as being an Indian national and address his grievances through local grievance mechanisms, the spokesperson said.

Chohan, stationed in Held Kashmir, “willfully crossed the LoC on September 29, 2016 and surrendered himself to the Pakistan Army," said another press release issued by the ISPR.

As confusion ensued after the soldier's 'desertion', Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi had told Al Jazeera that Pakistan Army had "captured an Indian soldier who was trying to enter” into the Pakistani territory.

Lodhi, however, had denied that there had been any surgical strike inside the territory of Pakistan on the same day, as claimed by the Indian forces.

The Pakistan Army had also reported killing several Indian soldiers on the same day during a firing incident across the LoC.

An Indian Army official based in New Delhi had said, “It is confirmed one soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles with weapons has inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the Line of Control”.

Avoiding connecting the capture to the firing incident along the LoC on the same day, the Indian official had said such incidents of people, including civilians, crossing the frontier by mistake have happened in the past from both sides.

“Pakistan has been informed [of the soldier's crossing] through the DGMO on hotline,” an Indian news agency had quoted the Indian Army sources saying at the time. -- Agencies/News Desk