Sachin Tendulkar posts a heartwarming message to welcome back Abhinandan Varthaman

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman finally returned home to India as Pakistan released the brave Indian Air Force pilot via the Attari-Wagah border at around 9 pm on Friday, March 1, 2019. Wing Commander Abhinandan was captured by the Pakistani locals and handed over to the Pakistani Army on Wednesday, as his MiG 21 Bison crashed across LOC.

This happened as two Pakistani F-16 infiltrated the Indian airspace and tried to target Indian military establishments near the LOC in Kashmir and Wing Commander Abhinandan gave chase to a PAF F-16 across the border and shot it down, before crashing due to technical snags.

A video of Wing Commander Abhinandan being assaulted by the locals and Pakistani Army during capture and his bloodied face enraged the Indians all over the nation and social media became active in order to put pressure on Pakistan to return him. Even the Indian government asked for his return from Pakistan under Geneva convention and without any further harm to him. A video showed Wing Commander Abhinandan in custody of Pakistan Army and was made to say that he was treated well by them.

Finally after pressure from all over the world, Imran Khan, the Pakistani PM decided to return him to India and termed it a peace gesture. As per sources, Pakistan was supposed to return Wing Commander Abhinandan to India in the afternoon at 2 pm. But they continued to delay the proceeding in name of paperwork and finally, Wing Commander Abhinandan stepped foot on Indian soil at around 9 pm.

The whole nation was behind Wing Commander Abhinandan and rallied on social media to put pressure on Pakistan to return him safely to India. Hashtags trended, threads were made and even celebrities tweeted in support of Abhinandan. This included many cricketers and even the BCCI.

Bharat Ratna and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar too had tweeted in support of Wing Commander Abhinandan’s return and when it was obvious that he is coming back, he tweeted a heartwarming and inspirational message on Twitter. He wrote, “A hero is more than just four letters. Through his courage, selflessness and perseverance, OUR HERO teaches us to have faith in ourselves. #WelcomeHomeAbhinandan Jai Hind”

Here is what Sachin Tendulkar tweeted

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