
Pakistan will release a captured Indian pilot in a 'peace gesture' to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed nations over Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced.

Abhinandan Varthaman's capture by Pakistani forces - after his plane was shot down yesterday - sparked a fresh crisis over the Himalayan province and prompted pleas from world leaders to step back from the brink of war.

Khan announced he would be freed tomorrow despite a rally in Pakistan today where protesters waved their country's flag and told their military: 'Move forward, the nation is with you'.

Some Indian politicians have also called for more aggression including 'secret missions' to target suspected terrorists in Pakistan.

The tension, which was raised by an Indian airstrike on Tuesday, reached its highest point in almost 50 years yesterday as both countries claimed to have shot down warplanes and Pakistan paraded the captured pilot.

Last night both sides exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and jet fighters roared overhead through the mountainous region as villagers along the so-called Line of Control fled to safety, and small arms fire and shelling continued into Thursday.

Indian Air Force officials display a wreckage of an air-to-air missile that they say was fired by a Pakistan Air Force fighter jet during a strike over Kashmir on Wednesday

Ready for war: Pakistani protesters hold a banner reading: 'Pakistan army move forward, the nation is with you,' in a rally against India in Quetta as world leaders urged the two nations to step back from the brink of war

Captured pilot Abhinandan Varthaman pictured in Pakistani custody yesterday. Pakistan's PM Imran Khan announced today that the airman would be released on Friday as a 'peace gesture'

Supplies: A train loaded with Indian army trucks and artillery guns is parked at a railway station on the outskirts of Jammu on Thursday amid fears the tension between the two nuclear-armed powers could lead to war

Rivalry: Kashmiris burn an Indian flag as they shout anti-India slogans during a protest in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani administered Kashmir

Hero: Indian people hold placards and photographs of Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, as they celebrate the announcement of his impending release at a demonstration in Amritsar on Thursday

As the nations sought to ease tensions today India also offered to share intelligence on the Kashmir bombing on February 14 which has sparked the crisis.

A ceasefire line divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but both claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

Speaking in Pakistan's parliament, Khan said Islamabad would make a 'peace gesture' by freeing the captured pilot on Friday.

But he warned New Delhi that Pakistan was 'prepared for any eventuality and response', saying: 'I beseech India not to force us down the path of war.'

'Our efforts to de-escalate should not be considered our weakness. We are indulging our efforts to maintain peace in the region,' he said.

'Pakistan acted with caution and restraint and replied to Indian aggression only to show that we are capable of safeguarding our sovereignty.'

Allies of Indian PM Narendra Modi have backed further military action, as the country hurriedly arranged for 14,000 bunkers while heavy-calibre artillery was fired across the border.

The country's finance minister suggested Indian special forces could carry out secret missions to capture terrorist leaders in Pakistan, invoking the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

A map showing the military clout of Pakistan (left) and India (right) and the volatile disputed region of Kashmir to the north and Jammu and Kashmir to the south

Protests: Kashmiris hold Pakistani flag as they shout anti-India slogans during a protest in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani administered Kashmir

Rally: Pakistanis wave their national flag in a protest against India in Quetta on Thursday amid rising tensions between them. Pakistan's PM Imran Khan has appealed for caution given the 'nature of the weapons that we have'

Refugees: Kashmiri women who fled Chakothi - a town near the Line of Control in Kashmir - arrive to take refuge at a school around 25 miles from Mufzafarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir

Debris: In India on Thursday night a defence officer holds up part of an air-to-air AMRAAM missile which was allegedly fired by Pakistani Air Force aircraft. India accuses them of violating Indian airspace

Meanwhile the head of Modi's party in India's Karnataka state said India's pre-dawn airstrikes in Pakistan on Tuesday would help the party at the polls, just weeks before a general election.

'This has brought a pro-Modi wave all through the country,' B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters. 'The effect of this will be seen in the elections.'

Today Modi said his country's enemies were conspiring to create instability through terror attacks, calling on Indians to unite 'as the enemy seeks to destabilise India'.

Speaking to tens of thousands of Hindu nationalist party workers by video link, he did not mention Pakistan but said a united India would 'fight, live, work and win.'

'Our defense forces are serving gallantly at the border. The entire country is one today and standing with our soldiers. The world is looking at our collective will and we have faith in our forces' capacity,' he said.

Air Vice Marshal R.J.K. Kapoor, an Indian air force spokesman, says the Indian air force 'is extremely happy and looks forward to the return of the Indian pilot.'

However Indian forces remain on a 'heightened' state of alert despite Pakistan's promise to free the pilot, military chiefs said on Thursday.

Top generals from the Indian air force, army and navy also renewed claims that India had shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet in the air battles.

Security: Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fence near the border with Pakistan on Thursday

Remains: A Pakistani soldier stands guard near the wreckage of an Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan military on Wednesday, in Hurran, near the Line of Control in Pakistani Kashmir

Slogans: Pakistani activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat party shout during an anti-Indian protest rally in Islamabad today

Evidence: Indian Air Force officials display a wreckage of AMRAAM air-to-air missile that they say was fired by Pakistan Air Force fighter jet during a strike over Kashmir

Captured: Photos shared on social media purport to show the moment when one of the Indian Air Force pilots is arrested in Pakistani Kashmir

We don't want war: A Pakistani civil society activist sings a song as other carry placards during a peace rally in Islamabad

Worries: Indian border villagers sit outside a community bunker in the wake of border tension between India and Pakistan

Rally: Kashmiris hold a giant Pakistani flag as they shout anti-India slogans during a protest in Muzaffarabad today

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan had called for talks between the two nuclear-armed rivals in a televised address , saying: 'Considering the nature of the weapons that both of us have, can we afford any miscalculation?'

India has yet to respond to Khan's suggestion of direct talks.

Kashmir crisis 'could slip beyond control' of Indian and Pakistani leaders World leaders fear India and Pakistan are running out of escape routes to avoid a conflict, analysts say. While both sides have insisted they want to avoid escalation or war, the lack of direct government-to-government contact offers no clear way out of the crisis. In addition the United States - so often the peacebroker in past showdowns - has shown no signs of taking up such a pivotal role this time. Prime ministers Imran Khan of Pakistan and India's Narendra Modi - who is on the verge of calling a general election - are under enormous domestic pressure not be seen to give any ground. Public opinion in India, already at boiling point over a suicide attack in Kashmir that set off the hostilities, has been further inflamed by the capture of the pilot. 'The real danger is the crisis slipping beyond the two governments' control,' said Richard Gowan, a New York-based specialist on international peace and security. 'There is a risk that another terrorist attack or outbreak of communal violence could suddenly make diplomacy harder.' The United States, China, Russia and every major power has called for 'restraint,' but so far neither side has made any concrete move to defuse the situation. 'We are getting mixed signals, there is nothing reassuring yet,' said one western diplomat in New Delhi. Despite the dangerous surge in tensions, observers in the two countries, who have fought three wars since their independence and angry split in 1947, noted that India and Pakistan are used to finding ways to step back from the brink. Advertisement

The confrontation represents the first major foreign policy crisis for Pakistan's leader, who is believed to be close to the powerful military and who came to power last year vowing to seek dialogue with New Delhi.

'The real danger is the crisis slipping beyond the two governments' control,' said Richard Gowan, a New York-based specialist on international peace and security and fellow at the UN University.

'There is a risk that another terrorist attack or outbreak of communal violence could suddenly make diplomacy harder.'

In a possible sign of calm today Pakistan's foreign ministry said India has handed over its file on the deadly Kashmir bombing earlier this month which sparked the latest tensions.

Pakistan also has said it will act against those linked to the Kashmir bombing if actionable intelligence is shared with it.

Islamabad is also prepared to release a captured Indian pilot if doing so will ease soaring tension, its foreign ministry said.

World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions gripping the region since a February 14 suicide car bombing killed over 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.

India responded with an airstrike inside Pakistan on Tuesday, the first such raid since the two nations' 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh.

The tension escalated with Wednesday's aerial skirmish, which saw Pakistan say it shot down two Indian aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan-held part of Kashmir and the other in India-controlled Kashmir.

India acknowledged one of its MiG-21s, a Soviet-era fighter jet, was 'lost' in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was 'missing in action.'

New Delhi also said it shot down a Pakistani warplane, something Islamabad denied.

Pakistan's military later circulated a video of a man with a mustache who identified himself as the Indian pilot, sipping tea and responding to questions, mostly by saying, 'You know I can't answer that.'

Footage of the airman, identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, being beaten and interrogated has gone viral in India and Pakistan.

Kashmiris burn the Indian flag as they shout anti-India slogans amid pressure on the governments not to give ground

Preparations: An excavator is seen next to an under-construction bunker in a residential area near the border with Pakistan

Hiding: An Indian border villager looks out from a community bunker at Abdullian village near the India-Pakistan border

A Pakistani soldier stands guard near the wreckage of an Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan military on Wednesday

Strong feelings: Kashmiris burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they shout anti-India slogans during a protest in Muzaffarabad

Standing guard: Indian paramilitary troopers in Srinagar. Some New Delhi politicians have called for more military action while one ally of PM Narendra Modi suggested the airstrikes on Pakistan would help him at the forthcoming elections

Defence: Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fence at the India-Pakistan border, near Amritsar, today

Peace protest: Pakistani women hold signs advocating 'love not war' at a peace rally in Islamabad on Thursday

Plans: Residents stand outside an under-construction bunker in a residential area near the border with Pakistan

Under construction: A worker explains the structure of a bunker in a near the border with Pakistan amid ongoing tensions

Military might: Indian army trucks are transported on a train near a railway station on the outskirts of Jammu

Safe place? A Kashmiri family who fled Chakoti, near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan, take refuge in a school at Hatian Bala amid the escalating tensions

Stranded passengers travelling with 'Friendship Express' between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan, sit at the waiting area at Lahore railway station after Pakistani officials shut the service down amid the rising tension

Stranded: Passengers wait at the check-in area at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. Thai airways cancelled 11 European-bound flights after Pakistan closed its airspace

What next? Indian border villagers play cards as they sit near a community bunker near the border with Pakistan

People celebrate after the news of two Indian fighter jets shooting down by Pakistani Air Force, in Karachi on Wednesday night

Workers construct a concrete bunker in a residential area near the border with Pakistan in Samba sector near Jammu, many of the civilian population have cleared out their old bunkers while others are having new ones made

Indian soldiers and Kashmiri onlookers stand near the remains of an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft after it crashed in Budgam district in Indian-occupied Kashmir

Firepower: This diagram shows the huge military capabilities of the two nuclear-armed nations

Last night there was a complete power blackout overnight in Muzafarabad, the main city on the Pakistani-held side of the disputed Himalayan region

Pakistan has denied involvement in the Kashmir bombing on February 14.

While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India.

Q&A: India, Pakistan and Kashmir WHY IS THIS TENSION SO DANGEROUS? Both India and Pakistan are believed to possess more than 100 nuclear warheads each and have conducted atomic weapon tests. Both countries have test-fired nuclear-capable missiles. Pakistan also has refused to renounce a first-strike option with its atomic bombs should it feel outgunned in a conventional war. It takes less than four minutes for a missile fired from Pakistan to reach India. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warns that 'computer models have predicted that the physical impacts of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, or even a single strike on a large city, would be devastating . and would reverberate throughout the world.' HOW DID THE DISPUTE OVER KASHMIR BEGIN? When Britain granted independence to the region in 1947, it divided the Indian subcontinent into a predominantly Hindu India and mostly Muslim Pakistan. Some areas could decide their own fate. In Kashmir, the only Muslim majority area ruled by a Hindu monarch, its ruler decided against giving the population a choice. That started the first India-Pakistan war in 1947. The conflict ended in 1949 when a UN resolution established the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between the two nations and calling for a direct vote on which country should control it. That vote has never been held. Indian and Pakistan fought a second war over Kashmir in 1965. WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE? India and Pakistan fought a third war in 1971 over what was East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh. In 1999 and 2000, after Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir at Kargil, the two countries faced off and a worried world urged both to pull back from the brink of war, fearing it could escalate into a nuclear conflict. Even in times of relative peace the two nations readily engage in brinkmanship and aggressive rhetoric. Advertisement

Today Russia offered to facilitate talks while the U.S., along with China, Britain, Germany and the European Union, has called for cooler heads to prevail.

British PM Theresa May has said she is 'deeply concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan', adding that the UK 'urgently calls for restraint on both sides to avoid further escalation'.

However Pakistan's ambassador to Washington said that the lack of U.S. condemnation for the Indian airstrike had increased tensions between the two neighbours.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the initial strikes by India as 'counter-terrorism actions' and urged Pakistan to take 'meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.'

The statement 'is construed and understood as an endorsement of the Indian position and that is what emboldened them even more,' the ambassador said.

President Donald Trump has shown no sympathy for Pakistan, last year cutting $300 million in military aid that had been flowing over logistical assistance to US forces in Afghanistan.

Speaking at the end of his summit with Kim Jong-Un, Trump said India and Pakistan have 'been going at it' and that the U.S. has been 'trying to help them both out' to 'see if we can get some organisation and some peace.'

Japan has also urged the countries to 'exercise restraint and stabilise the situation through dialogue'.

Meanwhile several airlines, including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, suspended flights to Pakistan after the nation closed its airspace.

In Bangkok, an important and busy hub for transcontinental flights, thousands of travellers were stranded amid the political tension.

The terminal was so crowded that the chief of Thailand's immigration police, Surachate Hakparn, tweeted a warning to 'Please spare your time for your trip!'

The disruptions marked an unhappy end to a month-long tropical holiday for a group of 25 Danish students unable to board a connecting flight in Bangkok.

'We are trying to get home but our flight was cancelled so we can't get home and now we've been waiting here for 18 hours without food or water,' said Sara Bjerregaard Larsen, 21. 'And we've been sleeping on the floor.'

Thai Airways says it had rerouted flights to Europe outside Pakistani air space. Malaysia Airlines also said in a travel advisory on its web site that it was avoiding air space over Pakistan and northern India 'until further notice.'

Officials in Kashmir have also closed all schools and educational institutions in the region and are urging parents to keep their children at home amid mounting tension with neighboring India.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Thursday that a key train service linking the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore with India has been suspended until 'the security situation improves.'

The violence on Wednesday marked the most serious escalation of the long-simmering conflict since 1999, when Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir at Kargil.

That year also saw an Indian fighter jet shoot down a Pakistani naval aircraft, killing all 16 on board.

Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. The countries have fought three wars against each other, two directly dealing with the disputed region.

Escalations: This map shows where one of the downed planes crashed in Indian Kashmir, as well as where Tuesday's airstrikes against an alleged jihadist militant training camp in the Balakot region took place just days after a suicide bomb attack in Indian Kashmir

Spectacle: Kashmiri villagers gather near the wreckage of an Indian aircraft after it crashed in Budgam yesterday

Students of Islami Jamiat Talaba burn an Indian flag during the protest rally in Lahore

India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu on Tuesday

People chant slogans during a rally after Pakistan shot down two Indian military aircrafts, in Peshawar, Pakistan