Pak did not do a favour by returning Abhinandan, says Sitharaman

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday criticised those from within the country who had termed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan a “statesman” for returning Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and said the Indian Air Force pilot’s release was as per law and not a favour. India had sent back 90,000 Pakistani soldiers unconditionally after the 1971 war, in which Pakistan was defeated, she said.

“But some within India, some journalists and thinkers, are terming him (Khan) a statesman for sending back our pilot, but it is only as per law and it has not done India a favour. They are also questioning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done,” she said.Pakistan has shown the statements of such people and opposition leaders on their television channels, increasing TRP, the minister said.

“It is these people who did not want (the country) to buy Rafale, because arrival of these will give strength to our forces,” she said, addressing a gathering in Kolkata on ‘Ensuring India’s National Security’ organised by the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation. India has given a message to the world after the Balakot air strike by not bowing to Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail, the minister said.