General Anil Chauhan appears to have confirmed that India lost at least one aircraft in a brief conflict with Pakistan earlier this month.
India’s defence chief says the country suffered an initial loss of air during a recent military conflict with neighbouring Pakistan but refused to provide details.
“What was important is why these losses happened and what we do afterwards,” General Anil Chauhan told Reuters on Saturday about a bystander at the Shangri-La Dialogue Security Forum in Singapore.
India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day conflict this month. Since 1999, it was in the worst position before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10th. Over 70 people have been killed by missiles, drones and artillery fire, but there are competing claims about the casualties.
India says more than 100 “terrorists” have been killed in several “terrorist camps” across Pakistan. This rejects claims that more than 30 Pakistani civilians were killed in the Indian attacks.
Meanwhile, New Delhi says that almost 20 civilians have been killed on the Indian side, most of them in India-controlled Kashmir along the borders of the conflict.
The battle between the two nuclear powers was triggered by an attack on tourists in Pahargam, Kashmir, controlled by India on April 22, killing 26 people. Islamabad denied New Delhi accused Pakistan of supporting the armed groups behind the attack.
During their conflict, Pakistan also claimed it had defeated at least five Indian military jetties, including at least three Rafale fighters. However, on Saturday, Chauhan dismissed it as “absolutely wrong,” confirming that his country has lost at least one aircraft.
“I think the key is not the jets are down, but why they’re down,” he told Bloomberg Television in another interview in Singapore.
On May 11, the day after the ceasefire, Indian Air Aviation AK Bharti told reporters in New Delhi that “all the pilots are back home,” adding, “We are in a combat scenario and that loss is part of the battle.”
Chauhan said on Saturday that India had switched tactics and established a critical advantage after suffering losses in the air on the first day of the conflict.
“So we fixed the tactics and then went back. [May] “We took a precise strike on the 7th, 8th, 10th, masses were infringed and penetrated all air defenses, in order to collide with airspace deep in Pakistan,” he said.
Islamabad denied suffering the loss of the plane, but admitted that the Airbase suffered from several hits, although the loss was minimal.
Chauhan said that while the fighting was stopped, the Indian government has made clear that “any further terrorist attacks originating from Pakistan will respond accurately and decisively.”
“It has its own dynamics [as] The military is concerned. You need to prepare 24/7,” he said.
Chauhan also said that Pakistan is closely allying with India in the north and northeast and neighboring China, but there were no signs of actual help from Beijing during the conflict.
“While this is unfolding [April] 22nd, we found no unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of the northern border, but things were generally fine,” he told Reuters.
Asked if China provided satellite images or other real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the conflict, Chauhan said such images were commercially available and could have been sourced from China and other sources.
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