ISLAMABAD:
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday dismissed claims by the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief about the destruction of Pakistani fighter jets during Operation Sindoor, calling them “as implausible as they are ill-timed”.
The scathing rejoinder came hours after Air Chief Marshal AP Singh asserted that the IAF had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during the military confrontation in May in which, according to Pakistani officials, the IAF lost six warplanes.
In a statement posted on microblogging site “X”, Defence Minister Asif said it was “ironic” that senior Indian military officers were being made to front “a monumental failure caused by the strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians”.
He added that for three months after the operation, no such assertions were made, whereas Pakistan had immediately provided “detailed technical briefings” to the international media – supported by independent observations acknowledging the loss of multiple Indian aircraft, including Rafale jets, as reported by world leaders, senior Indian politicians, and foreign intelligence assessments.
The IAF operates 36 Rafale fighters, while India signed a deal with France in April to buy another 26 Rafale aircraft worth $7.4 billion for its navy, which has a fleet mainly comprising Russian MiG-29 jets. Rafale is a twin-engine multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by France’s Dassault Aviation.
While India officially denies the destruction of any of its warplanes, French air chief General Jerome Bellanger has said he has seen evidence of the loss of three Indian fighters.
Asif reiterated that “not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit,” adding that Pakistan had destroyed six Indian jets, S-400 air defence batteries, and unmanned aircraft, while disabling several Indian airbases. He said Indian forces had also suffered “disproportionately heavier” losses along the Line of Control.
Challenging India to “open their aircraft inventories to independent verification,” the minister warned that such scrutiny would “lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure.” He cautioned that “wars are not won by falsehoods but by moral authority, national resolve, and professional competence,” adding that politically motivated “comical narratives” heightened the risk of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised region.
Recalling Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, the defence minister said that “every violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will invite a swift, surefire, and proportionate response,” and that any escalation would be the responsibility of “strategically blind leaders” risking South Asia’s peace for “fleeting political gains”.
Asif’s statement came hours after the IAF chief claimed that they had downed five PAF fighter jets and one other military aircraft during Operation Sindoor. Most of the Pakistani aircraft, Singh said, were shot down by India’s Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system. He further claimed that electronic tracking data confirmed the strikes.
“We have at least five fighters confirmed killed, and one large aircraft,” he said, adding that the large aircraft — which could be a surveillance plane — was shot down at a distance of 300 km. “This is actually the largest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill,” he added.
Singh did not mention the type of fighter jets allegedly downed but said that airstrikes also hit another surveillance plane and “a few F-16” fighters that were parked in hangars at two airbases in southeastern Pakistan.
