Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has dismissed Indian Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh’s claim that Indian forces destroyed six Pakistani military aircraft during May’s cross-border clashes, calling the assertion “fabricated” and “strategically misleading.”
Singh, speaking in New Delhi, described the alleged action, five fighter jets and one surveillance plane, as “the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill” at a range of 300 kilometres. This is the first such statement from India, months after the most intense military standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in decades.
The conflict, which India dubbed Operation Sindoor, was launched after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, an allegation Islamabad denies, urging an impartial international investigation.
Asif countered that “not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit” during the four-day standoff, adding that Pakistan had destroyed six Indian jets, including Rafales, S-400 air defence batteries, and unmanned aircraft, while disabling several Indian air bases.
He accused Indian military leaders of being used to mask “monumental failures” caused by the “strategic shortsightedness” of political leadership. Asif urged both countries to allow independent verification of aircraft inventories, stressing that wars are “won through moral authority, national resolve, and professional competence, not falsehoods.”
The minister warned that any violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty would be met with a “swift and proportionate” response, placing responsibility for escalation on “leaders who gamble with South Asia’s peace for political gain.”
India’s Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan has previously acknowledged a “tactical mistake” during the conflict, though he downplayed the importance of aircraft losses. Meanwhile, France’s Air Chief General Jerome Bellanger has said he has seen evidence of three Indian fighters being lost, including a Rafale.
The Indian Air Force has yet to officially comment on the claims.
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