Abhinandan exhibit at PAF Museum breaks the internet

KARACHI: Pakistan has put on display a statue of an Indian pilot whose plane was shot down over occupied Kashmir earlier this year, breaking the internet worldwide, and invoking the ire of India's media.

The life-sized statue of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman - complete with his signature moustache - has been installed in an exhibit at a museum in Karachi run by the Pakistan Air Force.

Varthaman's plane was shot down in a fight over the Indian-occupied Himalayan region of Kashmir in February during clashes which brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of a new war.

After his capture, the Pakistani military released video showing him sipping a cup of tea and politely refusing to answer questions.

His stoic and courteous demeanour - largely attributed to the humane treatment by the Pakistan Army - and comment that the tea was "fantastic" - made him a viral sensation at India's expense.

He was released several days later in a peace gesture from Pakistan aimed at defusing tensions. The statue stands in a gallery named Operation Swift Retort.

The exhibit includes parts of the fuselage and tail of Varthaman's aircraft, a Mig-21, as well as a tea mug - though apparently not the same one the pilot was seen sipping from.

The gallery also contains images re-enacting the moment his plane was shot down, and photographs showing him being handed back to India at the Wagah border crossing.

A mess receipt jokingly charging Varthaman for the tea - at the cost of one Mig-21 - is also framed in the exhibit. Images of the mocking receipt went viral in the days after his capture.

The museum stands inside a recreational park for young people in Karachi, complete with decomissioned aircraft and other military hardware.

"I feel very proud of my country seeing Abhinandan´s statue at the gallery," said Samiullah Bari, a 10th grade student visiting the museum at a school trip.