Army soldier, Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan in September, returned to India via the Wagah border on Saturday evening.
“As a gesture of goodwill and in continuation of our efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity along LoC and working boundary, Sepoy Chandu Babulal has been convinced to return to his own country and will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah on humanitarian grounds,” the Pakistan Army said in a statement.
The Indian Army said its representatives at the Wagah Crossing Point received Sepoy Chavan at approximately 3.45 p.m.
The news of the crossing over of 22-year-old soldier had emerged just hours after India claimed in September to have carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control on terror camps.
The Army said Sepoy Chavan had crossed over to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir from Krishna Ghati sector on September 29. “In order to ensure his release the matter was taken up with Pakistani Military authorities through the existing hotline and scheduled DGMO level talks,” the army said in a statement on Saturday.
Pakistan acknowledged his presence in their custody on October 7.
Chavan wilfully crossed over: Pak.
Sepoy Bablulal Chavan, who was returned by the Pakistan army on Saturday after he inadvertently strayed into on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in September last year, had been posted with a Rashtriya Rifles battalion.
Though he had disappeared soon after the September 29 surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army along the Line of Control, he had not taken part in the operation the Army said. It had said the soldier had “inadvertently crossed the Line of Control from the army post where he was on duty.”
However, Pakistan on Saturday claimed that Chavan had deserted his post “due to his grievances of maltreatment against his commanders.”
It claimed that the soldier had “wilfully crossed the LoC on September 29, 2016 and surrendered himself to the Pakistan Army."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan claimed that they were able to convince “the soldier to return to India being an Indian national and address his grievances through local grievance mechanism.”
“The matter has been continuously raised in scheduled DGMO level talks since then. The issue was also taken up diplomatically through our High Commission in Pakistan and Ministry of External Affairs,” the Army said.