General Qamar Javed Bajwa attended a meeting to decide on the IAF pilot, a PML-N leader said (File)
Islamabad:
Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa ‘legs were shaking’ as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a meeting of parliamentary leaders that India was about to attack their country, a Pakistani lawmaker said as he recounted the events of the February 2019 meeting in which the Imran Khan government decided to release the Air Force pilot squadron commander Indian Abhinandan Varthaman.
In a speech to the National Assembly, Pakistani Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi underlined at an important meeting that if Pakistan did not release the Varthaman squadron commander, India would attack Pakistan “that night at 9 p.m.”
The PML-N leader told opposition leaders that Mr. Qureshi, in a meeting with parliamentary leaders, including the PPP and PML-N and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, requested the release of Wing Commander Varthaman.
“I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi attending the meeting Imran Khan refused to attend and the Army Chief of Staff General Bajwa walked into the room, his legs were shaking and he was sweating. . The Foreign Minister said that for God’s sake let Abhinandan go, India about to attack Pakistan at 9 pm, ”Sadiq recounted the events of the meeting.
According to Dunya News, Mr Sadiq said the opposition supported the government in all matters, including Wing Commander Varthaman, but would not be able to support him further.
Wing Commander Varthaman’s fighter plane was shot down while chasing a Pakistani fighter jet during aerial combat, a day after India launched an airstrike on a terrorist camp in Jaish -e-Mohammed, who claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers. A Pakistani F-16 was also shot down.
Wing Commander Varthaman returned to India via the Attari-Wagah border on March 1, 2019. President Ram Nath Kovind awarded him the Vir Chakra on Independence Day for his exemplary bravery.
