Why Punjab CM won't go to border to receive Abhinandan

March 01, 2019 15:04

As news broke that IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman would be reaching India from Lahore via the Attari-Wagah border, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh offered to receive the Wing Commander at the Attari border. The Congress leader had tweeted his request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: "Dear @narendramodiji, I'm touring the border areas of Punjab & I'm presently in Amritsar. Came to know that @pid_gov has decided to release #AbhinandanVartaman from Wagha. It will be a honour for me to go and receive him, as he and his father are alumnus of the NDA as I am," he wrote.

But he clearly thought the better of it, bowing to protocol.

Singh told news agency, ANI, "Would love to go (to receive Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman) but there's laid out protocol that whenever anybody comes back like it happened to Prisoners of War in '65 & '71, they had to first go for a medical and then be debriefed. I think same process will be followed here."

The IAS pilot is expected to reach Wagah some time after 5 pm. Reports say he has already left Lahore and is on his way to the Indo-Pak border.

By the way, the Punjab CM is the person in our 11:27 am post.

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