ISLAMABAD: India’s military confirmed for the first time that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May.
Anil Chauhan, chief of defence staff of the Indian Armed Forces, made the admission speaking to Bloomberg TV on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Interviewer: General, there is still one unanswered question since the incident between Pakistan and India, that is, whether or not Pakistan downed an Indian jet or in fact, more than that. Can you confirm?
General Anil Chauhan: I think what is important is that not the jet being downed but why they were being downed.
Interviewer: But at least one jet was downed?
General Chauhan: Yeah! Yeah! But why they were. The good part is, we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedied it, rectified it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets, again targeting at long range.
Interviewer: Pakistan said six Indian planes were downed. Is it correct in that estimate?
General Chauhan: Absolutely incorrect! And that is not an information which I said is important. What is important is what [sic] why they were downed. That is more important for us, and what did we do after that. That’s more important.
