Official documents accessed by TOI reveal that Wg Cdr Varthaman was held by three Pakistani civilians in Horran village, 7 km from the Line of Control (L0C) in Bhimber district of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. According to the official documents, he swallowed some of his crucial documents and jumped into the nearby pond to escape the mob

SRINAGAR: Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman swallowed a quarter of his secret documents and dumped other papers of his survival kit in a pond before being captured by Pakistani civilians and handed over to the Pakistan army in a survival-behind-enemy-lines drama that also saw him discharge his pistol in the air to scare off a mob while one of the civilians shot at the downed pilot’s leg.

Some of his blood- and mud-soaked documents — a pink-coloured book on “Survival on Land”, a blue notebook and a map were recovered from the pond after they captured him.

Official documents accessed by TOI reveal that Wg Cdr Varthaman was held by three Pakistani civilians — Mohammad Razzaq Chaudhry, Shoaib and Razza — in Horran village, 7 km from the Line of Control (L0C) in Bhimber district of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). 

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The Pakistan English daily Dawn had reported on Thursday that 58-year-old Mohammad Razzaq Chaudhry, a political activist, noticed around 8.45 am that there was a dogfight on in the sky. After an Indian aircraft sped across the LoC, Razzaq saw a parachute descending a kilometre from his house. He immediately called his friends Shoaib, Razza and others and asked them to reach the location.

The wing commander, who had by then unstrapped his parachute, asked the youth whether he had landed in India or Pakistan. One among the mob told him that he had landed in India. At this, Abhinandan raised pro-India slogans and asked them the exact name of the place. He also told them that his back was broken and that he needed water as he was thirsty. The youth responded saying that the name of the place was Qillan. At this the mob began raising pro-Pakistan slogans and started assaulting Abhinandan. In self-defence, Varthaman drew his pistol and fired in the air.

According to the official documents, he swallowed some of his crucial documents and jumped into the nearby pond to escape the mob. He was pulled back and some of his documents were seized while one of the youth shot at his leg. After he was mauled, six Pakistan Army soldiers arrived and took him in custody. The documents reveal that Shoaib had called the Army.

They drove 58 km, from Horran to Bhimber military headquarters in Muzaffarabad, in a Pakistan army jeep. Frenzied civilians along the road showered rose petals on the Pakistan army personnel for capturing the Indian pilot, Dawn reported.

After he was captured, the Pakistan Army shot several videos, parading him to appease their civilians and Jihadi terrorists who had been outraged by India’s strikes on the JeM training facility at Balakot, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This drew international criticism and social media outrage, forcing Pakistan to revisit the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war.