Pakistan has strongly rejected the claims made by the Indian Air Force chief regarding the downing of six Pakistani jets during Operation Sindoor. Pakistan has called for an independent investigation following the claims made by the Indian Air Force. Defence Minister Khwaja Asif called these claims false, ridiculous, and far from the truth.
Indian Air Force chief on Saturday came up with a startling statement that IAF downed six Pakistani jets during its aerial combat with Pakistan in May. The statement comes three months after Pakistan had a four-day military escalation with India. Asif said that the belated claims made three months following the clashes are impossible and ill-timed.
The minister said that not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed while Pakistan shot down six Indian jets, including Rafale fighters, as well as S-400 air defence batteries and unmanned aircraft. Several Indian bases were also being targeted when Pakistan launched its retaliatory strikes as part of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos. Asif challenged India to allow independent verification of both countries’ aircraft inventories, expressing confidence that such an assessment would expose the reality.
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He noted that in the immediate aftermath of the operation, Pakistan had provided technical briefings to international media backed by independent observers and foreign intelligence assessments, which acknowledged Indian losses. The Defence Minister cautioned that comical narratives crafted for political gain risk serious miscalculation in a nuclearised South Asia.
“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. Wars are not won by falsehoods but by moral authority, national resolve, and professional competence. Such comical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment,” said Khwaja Asif.
“As demonstrated during Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, every violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will invite swift, surefire and proportionate response, and responsibility for any ensuing escalation will rest entirely with strategically blind leaders who gamble with South Asia’s peace for fleeting political gains,” the minister said further.