Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday announced the repatriation of IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan after he was captured by Pakistani on Wednesday.
Speaking in the Parliament, PM Khan said that Pakistan government will release the IAF pilot Friday as a gesture of peace and "and as a first step to open negotiations". But, what will be the procedure of his release?
The IAF pilot is likely to be handed over to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Pakistan after which he will return to India either through Chakothi border or Attari-Wagah border.
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The ICRC's work is based on Geneva Conventions of 1949, their additional protocols, its Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as well as the resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
The philanthropic association facilitates the Geneva Conventions rule which state that the POWs must be released and repatriated without delay at the end of active hostilities.
This neither requires a formal ceasefire agreement nor the conclusion of a peace treaty between the engaging countries. The aim of the repatriation rules is to ensure that the detention of POWs is not prolonged unnecessarily and that they do not become pawns in political maneuvering or bargaining at the end of a conflict.
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The rule also states that the repatriation of the POWs must be carried out in an orderly manner basis a plan which can either be concluded by an agreement amongst the parties to the conflict or if not then may be set up by the detaining power, which in IAF pilot's case is Pakistan.
The ICRC assists in the repatriation procedure accompanying the POWs who are being sent back to their countries.
The ICRC is an independent organisation with a mission to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.
The last POW Pakistan had detained was Flight Lieutenant Kambampati Nachiketa during Kargil war after his MiG-27 suffered a flameout while targeting Pakitan's enemy positions in Batalik subsector of PoK.
He was taken to custody by a senior Pakistani military officer but repatriated by the country after eight days by being handed over to the ICRC and subsequently returning to India via the Wagah border.
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