After CDS’ “Admission,” Congress Demands Government to Disclose Aircrafts Lost in “Operation Sindoor”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 31: After India’s military on Saturday confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan during the “Operation Sindoor” earlier in May, the Congress asked the government to come clean and tell the country the truth on what losses were suffered during the four day conflict.
The Congress demand came after the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan admitted that India lost some aircrafts in the hostilities even while dismissing the Pakistani claims of downing six Indian jets. “That is absolutely incorrect,” he said while commenting on the Pakistani claims of having shot down six Indian jets though declined to specify how many jets India lost.
Latching on to the comment by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy said the country wanted to know whether any aircraft were downed during the conflict, especially in the wake of the CDS’ “admission.”
“A government has to be transparent. Accountability is normal in a democracy. This is not about patriotism. We are more patriotic. Our first family, the Gandhi family, themselves suffered and have made huge sacrifices for the integrity of the country and these people question us. This is really shocking, bizarre,” the Congress leader said.
“What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,” CDS Chauhan said in an interview on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “Why they were down, what mistakes were made – that are important,” General Chauhan said when asked about the fighter jets. “Numbers are not important,” he added.
“The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,” General Chauhan said.
Mr Reddy reiterated that the Congress support the Indian armed forces in every endeavour and was not questioning its competence. “The party congratulates them as they have done a great job and we are proud of them, we salute them,” he said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on July 29, 1999, the Vajpayee government set up the Kargil Review Committee under the chairmanship of “India’s strategic affairs guru K Subrahmanyam, whose son is now our external affairs minister.” This was just three days after the Kargil war ended, he said.
“The committee submitted its detailed report five months later. The report titled ‘From Surprise to Reckoning’ was then laid on the Table of both Houses of Parliament on February 23, 2000, after the necessary redactions. “Will the Modi government now take a similar step in light of what the Chief of Defence Staff has just revealed in Singapore?” Mr Ramesh posed in a post on X.
General Chauhan’s comments are the most direct yet from an Indian government or military official on the fate of the country’s fighter jets during the conflict with Pakistan that erupted on May 7. Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country shot down six Indian fighter jets, an assertion that hasn’t been independently verified. India’s government had earlier refrained from commenting on whether it lost any aircraft in the fighting.
The clash was the worst between the nuclear-armed neighbours in half a century, with both sides trading air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border. It was triggered by a gruesome attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which saw terrorists kill 26 civilians in what India called an act of terrorism orchestrated by Pakistan. Leaders in Islamabad denied involvement.
General Chauhan declined to comment on President Donald Trump’s claim that the US helped to avert a nuclear war, but said it was “far-fetched” to suggest either side was close to using atomic weapons. “I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” General Chauhan said. Channels of communication with Pakistan “were always open” to control the situation, he added, noting that on the escalation ladder, there were “more sub-ladders which can be exploited for settling out our issues” without needing to resort to nuclear weapons.
General Chauhan also downplayed Pakistan’s claims about the effectiveness of weaponry deployed from China and other countries, saying they “didn’t work.” A research group under India’s Defence Ministry said this month that China provided Pakistan with air defence and satellite support during its clash with India. “We were able to do precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields of Pakistan deep 300 kilometres inside, with the precision of a meter,” the Indian military chief said.
India and Pakistan have sent delegations to global capitals to influence international perception of the conflict. General Chauhan said the cessation of hostilities is holding, and will depend on Pakistan’s actions in the future. “We have laid clear red lines,” he said.
