On February 27 last year, in the aerial combat with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) post the Balakot Strike, India lost one MiG-21 Bison fighter jet, the pilot of which was also reported as ‘missing in action’. Hours later, Pakistan Army confirmed that the missing pilot, IAF’s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who ejected across the Line of Control was in their custody.
Soon after, a video of Abhinandan sipping tea from a cup and talking to the Pakistani officials went viral on social media.
In the video, the officer who was later released by the PAF is seen politely saying “I’m sorry, I am not supposed to tell you this” a couple of times. The historical incident today, completed a year. Pakistan yesterday observed ‘Surprise Day’ as a tribute to the attempted airstrike by the PAF on Indian military installations in Rajouri sector.
And among all this, an interview of a man who claims to have made tea for Wing Commander Abhinandan has surfaced online. In the video, a Pakistani journalist is seen taking to Anwar Ali, who is allegedly the man who made and served tea to Wing Commander Abhinandan during his interrogation, reported The Indian Express.
This gentleman Anwar Ali made tea for Indian Air Force Pilot Wing Commander #abhinandan he told me “woh mehman tha” no bad words pic.twitter.com/KNby8Q2XpQ
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) February 26, 2020
In the video, Anwar also showed the cup and saucer in which Abhinandan was served the tea. The journalist then asked Anwar how he felt after serving tea to a ‘dushman pilot’, to which he responded, ‘woh mehman tha’.
People online mocked the video while praising Anwar for his sensitive comment:
https://twitter.com/samcan123/status/1232984662743638016
https://twitter.com/ProudyMuslim/status/1232978798150221824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1232978798150221824&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Findianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Ftrending%2Ftrending-globally%2Fjournalist-interviews-man-who-served-tea-to-iaf-pilot-abhinandan-varthaman-in-pakistan-6290895%2F
Sharam kro. Ye kesa program hey.
— Dr Ali Inayat (@FalconInayatale) February 27, 2020
Pakistani media now has content that is at its hilarious best. 🤣🤣🤣
— Kashipathiravi (@kashipathiravi) February 27, 2020
What a gentleman… humanity still exists 🙂
— Siddhesh Joshi (@siddhesh_speaks) February 26, 2020
Woh mehmaan tha🙆♂️😍😍
— ❥︎Asհɪ́ɪ́🇵🇰 (@HKuniversee) February 26, 2020
Never knew @HamidMirPAK is so talented that this had to be done😜😜😜. Next maybe he should try and talk to who washed the cup and so on….🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 journalism and jokers and happy viewers
— Rsp (@Rspgaddam) February 27, 2020
— Rohail Hafeez (@HafeezRohail) February 26, 2020
Reporter : Dusman Pilot
Tea Maker: Humare maihmanThis is the difference between common people and a reporter.
— ShivaaDooti🕉🚩 (@ShivaaDooti) February 27, 2020
Appreciate the intention of the tea maker. He called him his mehmaan.
— Batsman (@paaplet) February 27, 2020
This Tea man has Thousand times better thinking than both countries most of politicians & most of media
— Savage Mohan (@savagemohan) February 27, 2020
So, while journalists in Pakistan interview the chaiwala who served tea to Wing Commander Abhinandan, he was awarded the Vir Chakra last year and has continued serving the country since.