Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 9: Even as the Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Saturday announced the Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a large aircraft during “Operation Sindoor,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif refuting the claim said no aircraft of the military was hit or destroyed by Indian armed forces during the recent conflict.
His comments came within hours of the ACM Singh presented several new images of Pakistani military targets struck by India during Operation Sindoor clearly showing the neighbouring country’s forces, especially its air assets, took a sound beating. The images were part of a presentation shared by Air Chief Marshal who for the first time announced the Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and a large aircraft.
“We have an indication of at least one AWC in that AWC hangar, and a few F-16s, which are under maintenance there. We have at least five fighters confirmed killed and one large aircraft, which could be either an aircraft or an AWC, which was taken at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about,” Mr Singh said.
The remarks by the Air Chief were made at the 16th Air Chief Marshal L M Katre Memorial Lecture. He said the operation also resulted in a large number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), drones and some of their missiles falling into the Indian territory. The aim of the presentation in Bengaluru was to cover what happened during Operation Sindoor and the IAF’s thought process during the short but swift conflict that began with the killing of 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam by Pakistan-linked terrorists. These were new images which were not seen before.
“Not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed by (the) Indian (side),” Mr Asif claimed in a post on social media. “For three months, no such claims were voiced – while Pakistan, in the immediate aftermath, presented detailed technical briefings to the international media…,” he added.
He said the belated assertions made by the Indian Air Force Chief regarding destruction of Pakistani aircraft during Operation Sindoor “are as implausible as they are ill-timed.” Mr Asif claimed that the losses on the Line of Control for the Indian armed forces were disproportionately heavier as well. “If the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification — though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure,” he added.
He also said that every violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will invite “swift, surefire and proportionate response.”
After the ACM’s presentation and in view of the India’s assertions that no foreign power intervened in the conflict, the Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why he suddenly stopped the Operation Sindoor on May 10 when India was on the winning streak and under whose pressure.
Quoting ACM describing it as the “largest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill by India,” the Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, “In view of the new revelations made by the Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh today, it becomes all the more shocking why the PM suddenly stopped Operation Sindoor on the evening of May 10th.” “Where did the pressure on the PM come from and why did he capitulate so very soon?” he asked.