{"id":16219,"date":"2025-08-09T15:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T15:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16219"},"modified":"2025-08-09T15:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T15:04:07","slug":"defence-minister-refutes-iaf-chiefs-claim-of-shooting-down-pakistani-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16219","title":{"rendered":"Defence minister refutes IAF chief\u2019s claim of shooting down Pakistani jets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday strongly rejected claims by the Indian Air Force chief that India had shot down six Pakistani fighter jets during a conflict in May, calling the assertions \u201cimplausible\u201d and \u201cill-timed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe belated assertions made by the Indian Air Force Chief regarding alleged destruction of Pakistani aircraft during Operation Sindoor are as implausible as they are ill-timed,\u201d Asif said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>He added it was \u201cironic how senior Indian military officers are being used as the faces of monumental failure caused by the strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe belated assertions made by the Indian Air Force Chief regarding alleged destruction of Pakistani aircraft during Operation Sindoor are as implausible as they are ill-timed. It is also ironic how senior Indian military officers are being used as the faces of monumental\u2026<br \/>\n\u2014 Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) August 9, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Asif noted that for three months after the conflict, no such claims were made. He said Pakistan had presented \u201cdetailed technical briefings\u201d to the international media immediately after the incident, while independent observers acknowledged the loss of multiple Indian aircraft, including Rafales.<\/p>\n<p>These acknowledgements, he said, came from \u201cworld leaders, senior Indian politicians to foreign intelligence assessments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The minister insisted that \u201cnot a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed by India,\u201d claiming instead that Pakistan had destroyed six Indian jets, S-400 air defence batteries and unmanned aircraft, while disabling several Indian airbases. He said losses for Indian forces along the Line of Control were \u201cdisproportionately heavier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification\u2014though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure,\u201d Asif said.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that \u201cwars are not won by falsehoods but by moral authority, national resolve and professional competence,\u201d adding that \u201ccomical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cautioning New Delhi against any violation of Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty, Asif said,\u00a0\u201cAs demonstrated during Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, every violation of Pakistan\u2019s 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\u2019s peace for fleeting political gains.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday strongly rejected claims by the Indian Air Force chief that India had shot down six Pakistani fighter jets during a conflict in May, calling the assertions \u201cimplausible\u201d and \u201cill-timed.\u201d \u201cThe belated assertions made by the Indian Air Force Chief regarding alleged destruction of Pakistani aircraft during Operation Sindoor are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}