The Indian helicopter, which was Sunday forced by Pakistani fighter jets to land because of airspace violation, has returned to India along with the crew, a Pakistan Army spokesman said.
The Indian Defense Ministry said the helicopter had returned to Kargil in Indian-ruled Kashmir. "The issue has been resolved," the ministry spokesman, Sitanshu Kar, said.
Pakistan forced the military helicopter to land Sunday for violating its airspace near the disputed border with Kashmir and briefly took its four-member crew into custody. The helicopter was intercepted about 20 km inside Pakistani territory, a Pakistani military official told AFP.
"The helicopter and crew have been allowed to go back," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said, adding that "military officials from both countries talked with each other," and the Pakistan Army provided refueling for the helicopter. An Indian government foreign affairs spokesman said on Twitter the government was "relieved" that the officers and helicopter were back in Indian territory. He said that India "greatly appreciate" the manner in which Pakistan "worked with us in resolving" the matter.
Investigations were under way to determine why the helicopter crossed into air space around Pakistan's northern Skardu area, Abbas said.
In an earlier statement from New Delhi, the Indian government said it seemed the incident had been caused by bad weather.
The helicopter was forced to land near Skardu, a town in Gilgit-Baltistan that is close to K2, the second highest mountain in the world, said Maj. Gen. Abbas.
The incident took place near Kargil in Indian Kashmir where the two nations came dangerously close to their fourth war in 1999.
However, relations between the two uneasy neighbors have improved after they resumed a peace process this year which was suspended following attacks by Pakistan-based militants on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, that killed 166 people.
"The swift release of the helicopter shows both countries do not want to derail the peace process. Otherwise it could have turned into a major crisis," security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi told Reuters.
