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DPA
Islamabad
A Pakistani villager on Wednesday urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return his pigeon which flew across the border and is now suspected by Indian police as a spy.
“I appeal (to the) Indian Prime Minister to return my pigeon which crossed the border during a training session for an upcoming tournament,” pigeon owner Habibullah told dpa.
Habibullah said the pigeon went missing on Sunday during a training session he was conducting in his village in the north-eastern district of Sialkot near the border to the disputed Kashmir region.
Straying across the border, it landed in Indian controlled territory, where authorities told Indian media they had detained it as a spy and were trying to decipher a code inscribed on a ring on its leg.
Habibullah, who has more than 250 pigeons, said the code was likely his mobile phone number, which he had put there to prove ownership of the bird should it get lost. He is training his best birds for a pigeon flying tournament starting this Thursday.
Pigeon flying tournaments, in which the bird which spends the longest time in the air wins a hefty cash prize, are common in Pakistan. This is not the first time India has accused bitter adversary Pakistan of sending a pigeon over their shared border as a spy.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani army said it had shot down an Indian quadcopter, a small surveillance machine, they found flying inside Pakistani controlled Kashmir.
Islamabad
A Pakistani villager on Wednesday urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return his pigeon which flew across the border and is now suspected by Indian police as a spy.
“I appeal (to the) Indian Prime Minister to return my pigeon which crossed the border during a training session for an upcoming tournament,” pigeon owner Habibullah told dpa.
Habibullah said the pigeon went missing on Sunday during a training session he was conducting in his village in the north-eastern district of Sialkot near the border to the disputed Kashmir region.
Straying across the border, it landed in Indian controlled territory, where authorities told Indian media they had detained it as a spy and were trying to decipher a code inscribed on a ring on its leg.
Habibullah, who has more than 250 pigeons, said the code was likely his mobile phone number, which he had put there to prove ownership of the bird should it get lost. He is training his best birds for a pigeon flying tournament starting this Thursday.
Pigeon flying tournaments, in which the bird which spends the longest time in the air wins a hefty cash prize, are common in Pakistan. This is not the first time India has accused bitter adversary Pakistan of sending a pigeon over their shared border as a spy.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani army said it had shot down an Indian quadcopter, a small surveillance machine, they found flying inside Pakistani controlled Kashmir.
