The Pakistan Army announced on Saturday that it will release the captured Indian soldier Chandu Babulal Chavan (22), who had unknowingly crossed the line of control after straying off in Sept last year. He was posted with the 37 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion.
Pakistan to release captured Indian soldier, Chandu Babulal Chavan
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Pakistan had captured him as they took him to be an Indian spy. He strayed after having a spat with his senior over maltreatment in the Medhar district on Sept 29. The army maintained that the battalion with which Chavan was posted had no role in the surgical strikes held against Pakistan last year.
Till date, Pakistan had been claiming that he had willfully crossed the border in September a day after the Indian Army conducted a surgical strike on its army, as it posted on twitter. In the tweet, it added that Chandu Babulal Chavan had surrendered himself to the Pakistani Army.
The Indian Army had informed the Pakistani army about Chavan being missing since Sept 29. Later, the Pakistani army confirmed the news about having taken the custody of Chavan on October 13. Subhash Bhamre, the ministry of state for defence had earlier said – “He hails from my constituency. We are in constant touch with his family. Talks are on at the level of the Director General of Military Operations, and also through the Ministry of External Affairs and diplomatic channels. One positive thing is that they have accepted that Chandu Chavan is with them. They will have to send back Chavan some day… the question is when…The neighbour is hostile. We are sure that Chavan will be back when the situation comes back to normal. The efforts are on at all levels.”
