Pakistan's Defense Minister challenges India to allow international counting of its war planes
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has strongly
rejected recent claims by Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh that the
Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down six Pakistani aircraft during the May military
conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Speaking at an event in Bengaluru, Singh asserted that
Indian forces downed “at least five Pakistani fighter jets and one large
aircraft”—which he implied was a surveillance plane—during the May 7 aerial
clashes. He also claimed that India’s Russian-made S-400 missile defence system
was responsible for most of the kills, citing electronic tracking data as
evidence.
However, in a sharp rebuttal on social media platform X,
Minister Asif called the assertions “implausible” and “comical,” questioning
why India had waited three months to make such significant claims.
“These belated assertions by the Indian Air Force chief
regarding the alleged destruction of Pakistani aircraft during Operation
Sindoor are as implausible as they are ill-timed,” Asif stated.
“Not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed,” he
added, reaffirming Pakistan’s earlier claim that six Indian aircraft were
downed in air-to-air combat.
According to Pakistan, its air force successfully targeted
six Indian aircraft, including Rafales, as well as S-400 batteries and drones,
while also rendering several Indian airbases inoperative during the May 7–10
confrontation. The conflict was sparked by an attack in Indian-occupied
Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan—allegations Islamabad
strongly denied.
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Political and strategic fallout
Minister Asif criticized Indian military leadership for
being used as “the face of a strategic failure” brought on by political
miscalculations in New Delhi. He accused Indian authorities of creating “comical
narratives” for domestic consumption, warning that such falsehoods could lead
to strategic miscalculations in a nuclear environment.
“If truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft
inventories to independent verification,” he suggested.
Former Pakistani ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi also ridiculed
Singh’s statement, noting the timing: “It took him several months to count the
planes to make this ridiculous assertion!”
Indian opposition voices echoed skepticism. Congress
spokesperson Pawan Khera questioned the government’s handling of the conflict:
“If our forces were
indeed advancing so successfully, who ordered the halt to Operation Sindoor—and
why?”
Independent and international assessments
Independent assessments and international commentary have so
far backed Pakistan’s claims more than India’s. France’s Air Chief General
Jerome Bellanger previously confirmed the loss of at least three Indian jets,
including a Rafale. A Washington Post investigation supported this, citing
expert analysis of visual evidence.
Indian Navy Captain Shiv Kumar, currently India’s defence
attaché in Indonesia, reportedly admitted during a June seminar that the
Pakistan Air Force had successfully downed Indian aircraft. He explained that
Indian pilots had operated under strict political restrictions not to strike
Pakistani military targets—a decision attributed to concerns over nuclear
escalation.
An intelligence failure may have also played a critical role
in the downing of Indian aircraft. According to reports from Reuters and The
Wire, Indian pilots misjudged the range of China-made PL-15 missiles used by
Pakistan’s J-10 fighters, believing they were out of harm’s way. The missiles,
however, were fired from a distance of around 200 km—far exceeding India’s
expectations and resulting in one of the longest-recorded air-to-air kills.
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Air warfare expert Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services
Institute described the PL-15 as “clearly very capable at long range,”
emphasizing that the Indian pilots were “not expecting to be shot at.”
A caution against escalation
Asif concluded his remarks with a warning:
“Every violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty will be met with
a swift and proportionate response. Responsibility for any future escalation
will rest with those who gamble South Asia’s peace for political gain.”
The May conflict, which culminated in tit-for-tat airstrikes
and the loss of multiple aircraft, ended only after U.S. diplomatic
intervention on May 10. Despite continued tensions, both sides have refrained
from further escalation—though narratives over what truly happened continue to
diverge sharply.
Source: Dawn