Former Diplomat Ajay Bisaria has talked about coercive diplomacy that took place after the Balakot strikes that resulted in Pakistan repatriating Wing Commander Abhinanandan whose flight had crash-landed in Pakistan territory. Bisaria stated that Pakistan had a credible threat regarding India using missiles and it was amplified to them directly or through diplomats of other nations. He noted that then-Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan attempted to call PM Narendra Modi as the threat of force was very "credible to return the pilot" in order not to escalate the situation.
Varthaman (now Group Captain) downed a Pakistani jet on February 27, 2019, before his MiG 21 Bison jet was hit in a dogfight.
In his latest book, 'Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria claims that Pakistan had credible information on nine missiles India had prepared to launch into Pakistani territory. He has mentioned receiving a call from Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sohail Mahmood, who said that Imran Khan was keen to speak to PM Modi.
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Asked about being contacted by Sohail Mahmood and Pakistan suspecting that India would launch a missile strike, he stated, "After Pulwama, India had taken action in Balakot and that was followed by Pakistan's operation which it called Swift retort in India and as a result of which an Indian pilot Abhinandan was captured, he fell in Pakistan and he was captured."
"At around midnight I got a call in Delhi from Pakistani High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood, now in Islamabad, who said that PM Imran Khan was keen to talk to Prime Minister Modi," he says.
"I checked upstairs and responded that our prime minister was not available at this hour but in case Imran Khan had any urgent message to convey he could, of course, convey it to me. I got no call back that night," he recounts. 
On PM Modi's "Qatal ki raat" reference and the then Pakistan PM Imran Khan's attempt to make a phone call to PM Modi, Ajay Bisaria said "PM Modi did mention this in his speech. He did refer to this episode but Imran Khan also referred to this episode in his own speech in Parliament, that he had made an attempt to talk to the Indian PM. There was a conversation in Pakistan's parliament also, which has been reported by a Pakistan MP. He mentioned that both, then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and then Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa came to brief the MPs and said there is a serious danger of the crisis escalating and India taking hard action and therefore, we should return the pilot..."
(With ANI inputs)
