Did Pakistan release Abhinandan on Saudi pressure?

KARACHI: It is still an unanswered question whether Pakistan released Indian Air Force pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, on Saudi Arabia’s pressure last year, on March 1, 2019. According to foreign media, when Tanvi Marwah, wife of Abhinandan, received a call on her mobile telephone from Pakistan routed through Saudi Arabia and heard her husband on the other side of the phone. She later told the media she knew that Pakistan’s intelligence agency was making it possible.

Meanwhile, India heaved a sigh of relief when Prime Minister Imran Khan announced in the National Assembly that Abhinandan would be sent back as a “peace gesture”. However, the foreign media said the move was made possible due to immense international pressure, especially Saudi Arabia to pull both countries back from the brink.

The media reported that Saudi Arabia, the US, and the United Arab Emirates played key role in safe release of the Indian pilot. President Donald Trump had told the world media from Hanoi that “reasonably attractive news was coming from India and Pakistan”.

He told journalists, who had gathered for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, “We’ve been involved in trying to have them stop and we have some reasonably decent news. I think, hopefully, that’s going to be coming to an end. It has been going on for a long time”.

UAE Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, meanwhile tweeted that he had made “telephone calls to the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers”, stressing the “importance of dealing wisely with recent developments and giving priority to dialogue and communication”.

However, according to the foreign media, Saudi Arabia played most crucial role in release of Abhinandan. Saudi Minister of State for Foreign affairs, Adel al Jubeir, flew to Islamabad with an “important message from the Crown Prince, MBS”. Ultimately, the Indian pilot was released in just 60 hours of captivity in Pakistan.