An Indian soldier Chandu Chavan, who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) will soon be released, said Subhash Bhamre, Minister of State of Defence on Thursday.
Also read: After army couldn't ensure Indian soldier's release, government to approach Pak foreign ministry
"They admitted he (Chandu Chavan crossed LoC inadvertently) is alive, & they will soon release him after enquiry. The last time, which is two days back, when he spoke to Pak DGMO, they said enquiry is getting over and will soon release Chandu. We are trying at the level of DGMO. So far the DGMO has spoken to the counterpart minimum 15-20 times," said Bhamre.
Chavan, a soldier with the Rashtriya Rifiles in Kashmir, had crossed the LoC on September 29, which was after the surgical strike. His brother Bhushan Chavan also in the armed forces has since been trying to get his brother back.
On November 28, Maleeha Lodhi, permanent representative of Pakistan in United Nations tweeted to Bhushan saying, "@bhushan19101989 let me see what I can do. This is a humanitarian issue (sic)."
He had tweeted with the picture of a letter to Lodhi requesting her to release his brother.
After the tweet conversation, Bhushan told CNN News 18: "She acknowledged my concern, she called it a humanitarian issue. Chandu must be getting tortured in Pakistan. He needs to be rescued. I have written to the PMO, Sushma Swaraj and the defence minister of India."
In November 2016, the Army had been unable to get Chavan released from Pakistan and the matter was reportedly supposed to be taken up with the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.
"We are worried they will torture him, and tell him lies that the army doesn't care about him. That could drive him to take his own life," Bhushan had said.
While there are well-established mechanisms for situations like these, the timing of his crossing over had been when relations between India and Pakistan were especially tenuous. India had recently conducted the surgical strike following the attack by terrorists on Uri army base in Kashmir.
However, the Indian army had repeatedly said that his crossing over had no relation to the surgical strike whatsoever.
