• Asif terms IAF chief’s assertions implausible, ill-timed
• Says not a single Pakistani aircraft hit by India
• Offers joint inventory check to verify aircraft losses
• Insists wars are won by competence, not falsehoods

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday dismissed as “implausible” Indian assertions that its forces destroyed Pakistani aircraft during May’s four-day conflict, offering instead to open both countries’ air fleets to independent verification.

“The 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,” Khawaja Asif said in a sharply worded statement. “It is also ironic how senior Indian military officers are being used as the faces of monumental failure caused by the strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians.”

Mr Asif’s remarks followed comments by Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh, who in a lecture in Bengaluru said that Indian air defence systems — primarily the Russian-made S-400 — had downed at least five Pakistani combat jets and one large surveillance aircraft, possibly an airborne early warning and control platform, during the May hostilities. Mr Singh claimed the S-400’s longest-ever recorded surface-to-air kill came at a range of almost 300 kilometres.

Mr Singh further stated that the Indian strikes destroyed or damaged two Pakistani command and control centres, multiple radars, surface-to-air missile systems and runways or hangars at several airbases, including Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, Bholari and Jacobabad.

Mr Asif rejected the account, insisting that “not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed by India” and instead asserting that Pakistan had destroyed “six Indian jets, S-400 air defence batteries and unmanned aircraft of India while swiftly putting several Indian airbases out of action”. He also said losses on the Line of Control for Indian forces were “disproportionately heavier”.

“For three months, no such claims were voiced, while Pakistan, in the immediate aftermath, presented deta­iled technical briefings to the international media, and independent obser­vers recorded widespread acknowledgment of the loss of multiple Indian aircraft, including Rafales, by sources ranging from world leaders, senior Indian politicians to foreign intelligence assessments,” Mr Asif said.

“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,” he added.

The defence minister warned that “wars are not won by falsehoods but by moral authority, national resolve and professional competence”, adding that “such comical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment”.

The back-and-forth comes amid growing international acknowledgement of Pakistan’s version of events from the May 7 clashes. Pakistani officials claim their air defences and fighter pilots downed at least six Indian fighters and several unmanned aerial vehicles. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said in public remarks that “five to six” Indian jets were destroyed before Washington intervened to broker a ceasefire on May 10.

The fighting broke out after India launched Operation Sindoor, a military campaign, on the pretext of an April 22 attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. The operation, intended to be a calibrated strike, expanded after Pakistan retaliated with drones, missiles and loitering munitions, triggering a wider aerial battle.

Mr Singh said the IAF initially targeted the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke, using long-range weapons such as the air-launched BrahMos cruise missile to avoid Pakistani air defences. Indian forces also struck seven other sites near the international boundary and Line of Control.

Pakistan’s counter-strikes sought to saturate Indian air defences with large numbers of drones while targeting military airfields and installations. Mr Singh credited India’s air defence systems with neutralising the drone threat, but acknowledged the conflict risked spiralling after May 9 intelligence reports suggested Pakistan was “planning something very big”.

The hostilities ended on May 10, reportedly after US mediation. Mr Singh attributed the IAF’s performance to “very clear political will” and the absence of operational restrictions.

In India, however, the operation has fuelled a heated parliamentary debate, with opposition lawmakers questioning the government over intelligence failures, the loss of advanced assets such as Rafale fighters and the sudden ceasefire. They accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of weak diplomacy and failing to prevent cross-border terrorism.

The political fallout has added to Mr Modi’s domestic challenges, exposing vulnerabilities in his security and foreign policy approach and intensifying pressure amid broader political disputes.

Mr Asif ended his statement with a warning rooted in Pakistan’s military doctrine: “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.”

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2025