Indian Embassy Clarifies: Statement of Defence Attache Misrepresented & Out of Context

NEW DELHI: On May 7, the IAF conducted strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK. During these operations, it lost some fighter jets. India’s political leadership directed that no military establishments or air defences across the border be attacked on that day. India’s defence attache to Indonesia, Captain Shiv Kumar, said this at a seminar earlier this month. The remarks were made by Captain Kumar, a colonel-rank officer from the Navy. This happened after Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan acknowledged the IAF’s initial losses. He made this acknowledgment on May 31 in Singapore. However, he did not specify the exact number of fighters shot down. Indian Embassy in Indonesia clarifies.

Official Confirmation on Extent of Losses Still Awaited

Modi govt is yet to officially quantify IAF’s losses during Operation Sindoor. Pakistan has claimed to have shot down six Indian fighters. These include three French-origin Rafales reportedly downed on May 7 itself. CDS Chauhan dubbed this assertion as “absolutely incorrect”.

Captain Kumar’s comments led Congress to renew its attack on govt over its handling of Operation Sindoor. Capt Kumar spoke at a seminar. The topic was ‘Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies from the Perspective of Air Power.’ The event took place on June 10. He said he “may not agree (with an earlier Indonesian speaker’s claim) that we lost so many aircraft.” However, I do agree we did lose some aircraft. The political leadership imposed a constraint. This prevented us from attacking their military establishments and air defences.”

Also read: India Launches ‘Operation Sindoor’ Targeting Terror Infrastructure in Pakistan

Change in Tactics

“After the loss, we changed our tactics and we went for the military installations (and radar sites). First, we suppressed enemy air defences. As a result, all our attacks went through effortlessly by using Brahmos missiles (on May 10). His comments align with CDS Chauhan’s statement in May. CDS Chauhan said that after initial losses, Indian armed forces took remedial measures. They were then able to carry out precision strikes at Pakistan’s airbases.

Capt Kumar’s 20-day-old remarks recently came to light. They were cited by Congress to criticise the govt. In response, the Indian embassy in Indonesia said Capt Kumar’s remarks “have been quoted out of context.” They further stated “the media reports are a mis-representation. These reports do not reflect the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker.”

“The presentation conveyed that the Indian armed forces serve under civilian political leadership, unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood. It was also explained that the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure. The Indian response was non-escalatory,” it posted on X. Earlier, the CDS had said in Singapore, “On May 7, we experienced losses in the initial stages. Numbers are not important. What is important is why these losses occurred and what we will do after that.”

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