No evidence to support Pakistan’s claims, while India shared images of the damage caused to Pakistani targets, says Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Friday dismissed Pakistan’s claims of shooting down Indian fighter jets during Operation Sindoor as ‘manohar kahaniyan’—basically describing them as imaginary or concocted stories or plain humbug. The IAF chief said there was no evidence to support Pakistan’s claims, while India had shared images of the damage caused to Pakistani targets, and that such statements are made only to save face and mislead the Pakistani public.
Addressing the media ahead of the Air Force Day on October 8, Singh was quoted as saying: “If they think they shot down 15 of my jets, let them think so. I hope they’re convinced about it, and they will cater for 15 less aircraft in my inventory when they come to fight again. So why should I talk about it? Even today, I won’t say anything about what happened, how much damage was done, how it happened, because let them find out.
“Have you seen a single picture where something fell on any of our airbases, something hit us, a hangar was destroyed, or anything like that? We showed so many pictures of their places. However, they couldn’t show us even a single picture. So their narrative is ‘manohar kahaniyan’. Let them be happy; after all, they also have to show something to their public to save face. That doesn’t matter to me.”
Rather, Pakistan’s F-16 and JF-17 fighter jets were destroyed in Operation Sindoor, describing the operation as a lesson for the world to learn from India and a reflection of tri-services synergy.
Asked about Pakistan’s losses, he said IAF destroyed or damaged at least a dozen planes of Pakistan during operation Sindoor.
The IAF Chief said during the airstrikes on Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases, one C130-J type plane, one airborne early warning plane and 4-5 of the US-made F-16 jets were hit on ground. The F-16 were there at a base for maintenance. Counting the IAF strikes in air, he said “we have clear evidence of a long range hit was almost 300 kms away, it happened to be a PAF signal intelligence plane along with that five hi-tech fighters between the F-16 and the J-17 ( Chinese) class, is what our system tells us”.
