'Legs shaking' at high-level Pakistan meet over Abhinandan Varthaman, claims PML-N leader

Islamabad: “Legs were shaking and forehead perspiring” at a meeting of Pakistan’s top leaders, including Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, wherein Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi pleaded to release Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, saying if he was not released, India would attack Pakistan, a top Pakistani Opposition leader has said. Recalling the tension in Islamabad after India bombed a terror training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on 26 February, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq criticised the Imran Khan government over its response, saying the Opposition has supported the government on every issue, including Kashmir and Varthaman, but it will no longer be appropriate to provide any further support, Dunya News reported on Wednesday. Sadiq, who was the Speaker of the National Assembly during the PML-N government, made a similar statement earlier on Wednesday in the Parliament in Islamabad, that the foreign minister in an important meeting pleaded that let Varthaman go back because India is attacking Pakistan. The 37-year-old IAF pilot was captured by the Pakistani Army on February 27 after his MiG-21 Bison jet was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani jets during aerial combat. In the early hours of 26 February, 2019, the IAF jets bombed the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan and avenged the Pulwama terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. Before his jet was hit, Varthaman downed an F-16 fighter of Pakistan. He was released on the night of 1 March by Pakistan. In a speech in the National Assembly, Sadiq said that Prime Minister Imran Khan skipped the high-level meeting, which was attended by top leadership, including Army chief General Bajwa and Foreign Minister Qureshi. “Legs were shaking and forehead perspiring, and the foreign minister (Qureshi) told us, “For God’s sake, let him (Varthaman) go back now because India is attacking Pakistan at 9 pm in the night’”, Sadiq said, recalling the meeting which was also attended by parliamentary leaders, including those from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N, and added that “India was not planning to attack…They just wanted to kneel before India and send back Abhinandan.” It was not very clear whether Sadiq was referring to General Bajwa or foreign minister Qureshi whose legs were shaking and forehead perspiring. He also did not mention the date of the meeting, but indicated that it was held before the release of Varthaman. Sadiq said that he tries not to make any personal attacks but “when those in power refer to us as thieves or “Modi ka yaar” (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pal), we will have to respond.” He also said that those running the government were not serious people. “The rulers don’t even know the rules of Parliament,” he said. Sadiq said that the Opposition has supported the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan on every issue, including Kashmir and Varthaman, but it will no longer be appropriate to provide any further support.