Abhinandan Varthaman - The Real Hero

Abhinandan Varthaman is an Indian fighter pilot who was born on 21 June 1983 in Tamil Nadu. Abhinandan’s father, Simhakutty Varthaman is a retired Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force and mother, Shobha who is a doctor. He got married with Tanvi Marwaha and has a son named Tavish. He is an officer in the Indian Air Force who pilots a MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft. He was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in 2004 as a fighter pilot. His service number is 27981.

On 27 February Wednesday 2019, when he was captured by the Pakistan Army, his name started doing rounds in the media. The whole incident took place on the backdrop of the 2019 Pulwama Attack. He was flying a MiG-21 when he crossed into Pakistan territory and was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force with F-16 jets after which he ejected, deployed his parachute and descended safely to the ground. In the attack, a convoy of vehicles carrying the Indian security personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India; resulting in the deaths of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and the attacker. Later on, images and videos were released showing him blindfolded and handcuffed by the Pakistani military in an injured condition and dragged by a mob with his face covered in blood.

The release of those videos was suspected of being a violation of the Geneva Conventions and were deleted by Pakistani authorities after they went viral. On another set of videos showed him being interrogated while tied and blindfolded, receiving first aid and then being further interrogated over tea.

The attacker was later identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, a local from Indian-administered Kashmir, and a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed. A Pakistan based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed took the responsibility of the attack.

Picture of Adil Ahmad Dar

News agency reported that just before the pilot was about to be released, he was forced to record a video statement praising the Pakistani military. The clip, which had the Wing Commander saying that the Pakistani Army saved him from the mob, is said to have delayed his handover by three hours.

The confrontation erupted in the days following the Pulwama attack by Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on February 14, resulting in the death of over 40 soldiers. Indian fighters crossed the border to strike a JeM training facility in Pakistan's Balakot on Tuesday, spurring a retaliatory strike by Pakistani F-16s. However, the pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was handed over to Indian Authorities on 1 March 2019 via Wagah Border but, a day before on 28 February 2019, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan announced that they would return him in a “gesture of peace”. His homecoming was celebrated across the nation for his bravery and courage. After entering India through the Attari-Wagah border, Wing Commander Varthaman was shifted to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment centre as part of his "cooling down" process. He was later visited by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who listened to a detailed account of his time in confinement.