Crowds on the Indian side of the border with Pakistan dwindled late Friday as the wait for the handover of a captured air force pilot dragged on.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was downed on Wednesday over Kashmir, had been expected to be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border crossing on Friday afternoon.

But as night fell, the wait dragged on and the crowd of people, previously numbering several thousand waving flags and singing patriotic songs, dwindled to a few hundred.

Authorities on both sides were tight-lipped on the reasons for the delay.

Varthaman was shot down on Wednesday in a dogfight with Pakistani aircraft over the tinder box disputed region of Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947.

This came after Indian warplanes launched a strike inside Pakistani territory, claiming to have hit a militant camp in the first such aerial raid since their last war in 1971.

The strike followed a massive suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops on February 14, with the attack claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group.

Violence meanwhile continued to rage in Kashmir on Thursday and Friday, with both sides firing mortars and artillery over the de-facto Line of Control (LoC) frontier, killing at least one woman.

Gunbattles between militants and security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir meanwhile left seven dead including four members of the Indian security forces, two militants and one civilian.

Pakistan set to release Indian pilot as 'peace gesture'
Wagah, Pakistan (AFP) March 1, 2019 - Pakistan was set to free a captured Indian pilot Friday in a "peace gesture" aimed at lowering temperatures with its nuclear arch-rival, after rare aerial raids ignited fears of a dangerous conflict in South Asia.

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.

- #WelcomeBackAbhi -

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.

Khan alluded to the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war and called for talks, even as he warned India should not take the announcement as a sign of weakness.

With the hashtag #WelcomeBackAbhi swiftly trending on social media, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on his citizens to "stand as a wall" in the face of an enemy that "seeks to destabilise India".

The last time an Indian pilot was captured by Pakistan, in 1999, the Red Cross (ICRC) met Flight Lieutenant K. Nachiketa at the Pakistani foreign office in Islamabad before escorting him to the Indian high commission overnight.

He left for India that same day.

On Friday a Red Cross spokesman told AFP the aid organisation is "ready to provide any assistance necessary", but so far "is not involved" in Abhinandan's return.

Kashmir is ruled in part but claimed in full by both India and Pakistan. Two of their three wars have been fought over the territory.

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India says doesn't want 'escalation' after Pakistan air strike
New Delhi (AFP) Feb 27, 2019
New Delhi sought to ease soaring tensions with an infuriated Islamabad Wednesday after carrying out an air strike on Pakistan's territory, as the US urged the nuclear-armed neighbours to "exercise restraint". Ties between the arch-rivals have been under intense strain after a February 14 suicide bombing in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops. New Delhi had promised to act, and on Tuesday its warplanes flew into Pakistani airspace and struck what it said was a ca ... read more