• Chauhan curious why their jets were downed
• Claims conflict never came close to a nuclear war
• Says ‘channels of communication’ with Islamabad were open
• BJP leader says PAF shot down five Indian aircraft

NEW DELHI: A day after a BJP politician and staunch critic of Prime Minister Nare­ndra Modi, Subrahmanyam Swamy, claimed Pakistan had downed five Indian planes in the recent military escalation, India’s top military general admitted losses.

In an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan admitted losses but dismissed Pakistan’s claims that it shot down six Indian jets, including four Rafales, as “absolutely incorrect”.

“What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down… Why they were down, what mistakes were made — that are important. Numbers are not important,” he said.

In a separate interview to Reuters, Gen Chauhan said the losses India suffered were in the initial stages, on May 7, when it launched Operation Sindoor.

“What I can say is that on May 7, in the initial stages, there were losses… What was important is why these losses occur and what we will do after that,” he said.

However, the chief of defence staff said the armed forces were quick to analyse the “tactical mistakes”, remedy them, and again target Pakistan on May 8 and May 10.

“The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,” India Today quoted Gen Chauhan as saying.

It may be recalled that Pakistan military says India did not fly its fighter jets again in the conflict after suffering losses on May 7.

Earlier on Friday, former law minister Swamy became the most candid Indian to admit that Pakistan Air Force had shot down five Indian planes, including French-made Rafales. Speaking in an online interview, Dr Swamy blamed the French planes as being responsible for the losses, implying that the deal the prime minister had made for them was to blame. The interview came as Mr Modi went about holding mammoth meetings in Gujarat and other states claiming victory and threatening more dire conflict with Pakistan.

Gen Chauhan’s remarks were the most direct by the army so far on losses suffered during the hostilities, which came as India attacked nine alleged terror camps deep inside Pakistan. It was in response to the horrific Pahalgam attack, which left at least 25 tourists dead.

As Pakistan retaliated by launching a wave of drone attacks targeting Indian military facilities and border towns, the armed forces struck 11 vital airbases with long-range BrahMos missiles, India Today reported.

Previously, the armed for­ces had deflected questions abo­ut Indian jets being shot down by Pakistan. Addressing a press conference, Air Mar­shal A.K. Bharti, Director Gen­e­ral of Air Operations, said “losses are a part of any combat scenario”. However, he said all Indian pilots “were back”.

“We are in a combat scenario and losses are a part of it. Question is, have we achieved our objective? Answer is a thumping yes. At this time, I would not like to comment on that (loss of jets) as we are still in combat and give advantage to adversary. All our pilots are back home,” he claimed.

The chief of defence staff also claimed that the conflict never came close to a nuclear war, while underscoring that “channels of communication” with Pakistan were always open to control the situation.

This flies in the face of US President Donald Trump’s repeated assertion that he avoided a potential nuclear disaster by mediating the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the news report said.

“I personally feel that there is a lot of space between conduct of conventional operations and the nuclear threshold,” Gen Chauhan told Bloomberg.

During the hostilities, Indian missiles and jets were able to bypass Chinese-supplied air defence systems to target Pakistani military sites, the report said.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2025