Thank Pak PM for freeing IAF pilot Abhinandan without bargain: Dijvijaya Singh

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh praised Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for returning the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman to India without 'bargaining' for which he faced 'ire' from ISI and Pakistan Army.

"I am thankful that Imran Khan returned our Pilot without any bargaining because of which his own people and ISI said that he should have bargained and shouldn't have let the Indian Pilot return without it," Digvijaya Singh said.

Varthaman returned home from Pakistan on Friday, two days after he was taken into custody by Pakistan Army when his MiG 21 fell in PoK. Earlier on Saturday, Abhinandan met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa.

The Congress leader said now the Pakistan Prime Minister should handover Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar to India.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is a Pakistani Islamist militant, who is a co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and the chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, a UN-designated terrorist organisation operating mainly from Pakistan.

Saeed is an internationally designated terrorist who is influential in Pakistan among certain religious groups.

Masood Azhar is the founder and leader of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, active mainly in the Pakistani administered Azad Kashmir. Pakistani authorities took him into 'protective custody' after the Pathankot attack in India, which was widely reported as an "arrest".