Isn’t it strange that in this age of information and communication it dawned upon India three months after the actual clash that its air force downed “at least five fighters” and one larger aircraft — possibly a surveillance plane — using the S-400 surface-to-air missile system during operation Sindoor.
The ridiculous claim was made by IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh who boasted that the large aircraft was targeted from a distance of about 300 kilometres and a few F-16s were also destroyed. He, however, presented no evidence in support of his claim, confirming the globally held belief that India was desperately trying to mitigate the demoralising impact of its humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan armed forces.
The boastful statement of the Indian air chief was in line with the falsehood that was hallmark of Indian strategy from the very beginning as baseless claims were made in the first few hours of the combat to have paralysed almost all urban centres of Pakistan. It was in this backdrop that Prof Cheng Xizhong, a Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute, described the remarks by the Indian air chief marshal as comical, implausible and unconvincing, adding that they may call it “self-amusement”. It is really amusing that India took three months to make this claim of inflicting losses on Pakistan but even then it failed to present any evidence including wreckage of the downed aircraft and radar monitoring data. As against this, the Pakistani side had previously presented a large amount of relevant evidence of shooting down the Indian fighter jets as well as destruction of its prized air defence system and storage depot of the state-of-the-art missiles.
Moreover, there are also confirmations from world leaders, senior Indian politicians, and foreign intelligence assessments that India suffered heavy losses of multiple aircraft. Pakistani claims were based on facts and have been verified by international media, strategists, diplomatic circles, intelligence community, India’s defence suppliers and even by US President Donald Trump. As part of the damage control, Indian armed forces have also been consoling their public opinion by claiming that they fought war not just with Pakistan but also its staunch allies (China and Turkey). The fact remains Pakistan fought the war on its own strength as its friends and well-wishers did not participate in the conflict physically whereas the Israeli Prime Minister is on record having confirmed his country’s concrete support to India during the war. In fact, India continues to harp on the same theme as evident from the remarks made by its Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi during his speech at an event at IIT-Madras warned of future conflicts: “Next time, it may be much more, and whether that country will do it alone, or supported by some other country, we do not know. But I have a strong hunch… that country will not be alone. That is where we have to be careful”. This speaks volumes about Indian designs and preparations for a much wider conflict, making it imperative for Pakistan not to lower its guards.
This has prompted Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir to point out that India is persisting in its efforts to destabilise the region, warning that any act of aggression will be met with a “forceful response.” Addressing the Pakistani community in the United States, he said Pakistan had given a “resolute and robust” response to India’s provocation on the pretext of the Pahalgam incident and succeeded in preventing a wider confrontation. The COAS warned India against plans to stop Pakistan’s share of water under the Indus Basin Treaty and also reminded New Delhi that Jammu and Kashmir was “not India’s internal matter” but an “unfinished international agenda”. So far, Pakistan has given a befitting response to India both on military and diplomatic fronts and the nation stands united to foil nefarious designs of the enemy in future as well.
