TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Thousands of Indians, some waving flags and singing, gathered at the famed Wagah border crossing to give Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman a hero's welcome after tensions with New Delhi over Kashmir escalated this week to their highest level in years.
Abhinandan, who has become the face of the crisis, will be handed back to Indian officials at the border on Friday afternoon, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.
In New Delhi the announcement of his release was seen as a diplomatic victory, with Indian leaders welcoming the pilot's return but announcing they would remain on "heightened" military alert, showing little sign of de-escalating the rivalry.
Abhinandan was shot down over Kashmir on Wednesday, after a dogfight in the skies over the disputed Himalayan region which sent tensions between India and Pakistan to their highest levels in years and alarmed world powers, who issued calls for restraint.
"As the prime minister has said, as a peace gesture and to de-escalate matters, the Indian pilot will be released. So today, this afternoon, he will be released at Wagah," Qureshi told a joint session of parliament Friday.
A diplomatic source told AFP the handover was expected between 3-4pm Pakistani time (1000-1100 GMT).
Abhinandan's parents were given a standing ovation by fellow passengers as they boarded a flight to Amritsar near Wagah to welcome their son.
The highly symbolic Wagah crossing gate is famed for hosting an elaborate daily ceremony by Indian and Pakistani soldiers at sundown.
Thousands crowded in early on the Indian side Friday, clutching sweets and garlands, playing drums, and brandishing paintings and signs calling for peace.
Media on the Pakistani side were being stopped by authorities around 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the border.
The surging tensions had prompted Pakistan to close down its airspace, disrupting major routes between Europe and South Asia and grounding thousands of travellers worldwide.
"We will open our airspace at 6:00pm (1300 GMT) today" for flights at the Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta airports, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Aamir Mehboob told AFP.
The rest of the airspace would be opened "gradually", he said.
Tensions remained high, however, especially in Kashmir, where both countries fired barrages of shells across the de facto border at one another, leaving at least one dead as the troubled region braces for renewed hostilities.
Qureshi, meanwhile, announced he was boycotting a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Abu Dhabi, as India had been invited.
The latest confrontation between the neighbours erupted after a suicide bombing in Indian-held Kashmir killed 40 Indian troops on February 14, with the attack claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group.
Twelve days later Indian warplanes launched a strike inside undisputed Pakistani territory, claiming to have hit a militant camp.
It was the first such aerial raid since their last war in 1971 -- before either country had nuclear weapons.
An infuriated Islamabad denied casualties or damage, but a day later launched its own incursion across the Line of Control, the de facto Kashmir border.
That sparked the dogfight that ended in both countries claiming they had shot down each other's warplanes, and Abhinandan's capture.
Analysts said the pilot could prove to be Islamabad's trump card, but Prime Minister Imran Khan unexpectedly announced Thursday that he would be released a day later in the first sign of a potential thaw.
Source: AFP