Union minister and former Army chief VK Singh on Friday said he was happy that Pakistan was releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, but the neighbouring country needed to do a “lot more”.

The Centre is taking “appropriate measures” and “such steps are not revealed”, the Minister of State for External Affairs told reporters on the sidelines of an event in his Lok Sabha constituency. He was asked about the Centre’s next step amid the escalating tension between India and Pakistan.

“A lot of things are done in line with the Geneva Convention. We are happy that he is being released. If they call it a gesture of peace, we are happy for that too, but they need to do a lot more,” he said.

Abhinandan, who was captured by Pakistan on Wednesday, is expected to be released on Friday.On Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi not attending a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, Singh said, “It’s Qureshi’s brain; let them do what they want.”

Qureshi on Friday announced that he would not attend the meeting over the grouping’s failure to rescind the invitation to his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.

Reacting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks on India’s air strike in Pakistan, Singh said, “There are a lot of people who don’t have any work.”