Ayub Khan had also offered to release Gen Cariappa’s son in 1965 War

LAHORE: The detained Indian pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, is perhaps the second high-profile Prisoner of War (POW) that Pakistan has captured since its first full fledged war with its neighbour in 1965.

Abhinandan the son of a retired Air Marshal, Simhakutty Varthaman, who had headed Indian Air Force’s Eastern Command few years ago.

Due to be released Friday, pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, might also make history as he will the luckiest POW of any country to have come out of captivity within 48 hours or so despite being detained or caught by a foreign county's force on an alien soil while committing an act of war.

Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” reveals that during the 1965 Pak-India War, Pakistan had also captured Squadron Leader (later elevated as Air Marshal) K C “NANDA” Cariappa (born 1938), who was the son of Field Marshal, Kodandera Cariappa (1899-1993), the first Indian Army Commander-in-Chief who had led the Indian forces on the Western Front during the 1947 Pak-India War.

Soon after the young Squadron Leader, representing Squadron 20, was handcuffed by the Pakistani forces, Pakistani President Ayub Khan had offered his old colleague, General Cariappa, to release his son, but the-then retired Indian General had replied: “The POWs are all my sons, look after them well.”

The junior Cariappa was shot down while carrying out air attacks against Pakistan, and was taken prisoner.

Ayub and Cariappa had served the British Indian Army before the 1947 Partition. Cariappa is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the Five-Star rank of field marshal; the other being Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw.

After his retirement in 1953, General Cariappa served as the Indian High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand until 1956. His son, “Nanda” Cariappa, had gone on to command Indian Helicopter Unit No.111 after repatriation at Hasimara during the 1971 War, and later spearheaded Squadron Number 8 in the mid 70s at Pune City.