A commando of the Special Services Group (SSG), “who had rescued Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Abhinandan Varthaman from the mob”, has embraced martyrdom, Indian media reports claimed Thursday.
Wing Commander Abhinandan, who was piloting an intruding MiG-21 fighter jet downed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in February this year, was captured by villagers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). They were trying to lynch the pilot before Pakistani troops had reached the site to rescue him.
In a video that went viral on social media, Abhinandan had also praised Pakistan Army officials as “thorough gentlemen” for having saved him from the mob.
With SSG Naib Subedar Ahmed Khan Awan recently embracing martyrdom in the Kel Sector as Indian army resorted to unprovoked firing across the Line of Control (LoC), media reports said he was among the personnel “who captured Abhinandan”.
However, sources privy to the development informed The Current that there was no truth to the claims. They also hinted at the possibility of Indian media linking the two personnel merely on the basis of their beards.
The claims come just days after Ahmed Khan was laid to rest in his native graveyard in Attock, with full military honours. The martyr has left his mother, wife, three sons and two daughters in mourning.
Joining the army in 1998, Khan was recently deployed in the Kel Sector where he embraced martyrdom defending his motherland.
