Has The De-Escalation Of India-Pakistan Tensions Begun?
Will Wing Commander Abhinandan’s release de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan?
Pakistan has promised to return Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman as a gesture of peace, a day after it captured the India Air Force pilot.
In a joint press briefing of the armed forces, Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said that India sees Pakistan's gesture only as one in consonance with the Geneva Convention. “As long as Pakistan continues to harbour terrorists, we will continue to target the terror camps,” Major General Surendra Singh Mahal said, reiterating India’s stand.
But during the day U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at “reasonably attractive” and “reasonable decent” news from Pakistan and India, indicating that there may be de-escalation in tensions. Will the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan be the turning point in that direction?
Former Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, national security analyst Nitin Gokhale and Michael Kugelman, deputy director of The Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson, speak to BloombergQuint.
Watch the full debate here: