New Delhi [India], August 10 : Senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Sunday called for clarification from the central government regarding reports of Indian fighter jets being shot down during Operation Sindoor.
Alvi expressed trust in the armed forces and pride in their accomplishments, but emphasised the need for transparency about potential losses.
Alvi said, "We have full trust in our armed forces. We are proud of them. If our IAF chief is saying all these things, then the entire nation trusts him. But even the IAF chief has not clarified whether our fighter jets were shot down, whether our Rafales were shot down."
He added, "If you do not respond, it causes doubts. So, the Government should clarify...The newspapers across the world are reporting this."
International media outlets reported that at least one Indian Rafale jet was shot down by Pakistani F-10C jets using Chinese-made PL-15 missiles.
The Indian government and IAF have neither confirmed nor denied these reports, with Air Marshal AK Bharti stating, "We are in a combat scenario, and losses are part of it. All our pilots are back home."
India refuted these claims, stating that all IAF assets and pilots returned safely, and labeling Pakistan's assertions as "fake and baseless."
Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Saturday said that India took down at least five fighter jets of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor and downed one large aircraft which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres.
He said the aircraft that was brought down "is the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about".
The IAF Chief, who delivered the keynote address at the 16th edition of the Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lecture on Saturday, lauded the successful completion of Operation Sindoor, underscoring the primacy of Air Power in modern military conflicts and its significance in national security.
"We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) aircraft or an AEW &C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about," Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said.
"We were able to get at least two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala. At least six radars, some of them big, some of them small. Two SAGW systems that is in Lahore and Okara. We attacked three hangars. One was the Sukkur UAV hangar, the Bholari hangar and the Jacobabad F-16 hangar. We have an indication of at least one AEW&C in that AEW&C hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance there," he added.
This is apparently the first time that a top-ranking officer has specified the number of Pakistani aircraft and jets downed during the conflict.
The IAF chief also credited the "political will" of the Central government for the success of the operation by allowing the Armed Forces to conduct the operations without any constraints."A key reason for success was the presence of political will. There was very clear political will and very clear directions given to us. No restrictions were put on us... If there were any constraints, they were self-made. The forces decided what the rules of engagement would be. We decided how we wanted to control the escalation. We had full freedom to plan and execute," he said."There was a synchronisation between the three forces... The post of CDS made a real difference. He was there to get us together. NSA also played a big role in getting all the agencies," he added.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 as a decisive military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. The Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the death of over 100 terrorists.
India repelled the subsequent Pakistani retaliation and pounded its airbases.