India lost jets in Operation Sindoor due to ‘political constraint’: Defence attaché to Indonesia
The Indian Air Force lost fighter jets to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor on May 7 because the political leadership had directed that no military establishment across the border was to be attacked that day, The Times of India quoted India’s defence attaché to Indonesia as having said earlier this month.
A controversy erupted after a purported video of Captain Shiv Kumar’s remarks from June 10 surfaced online on Sunday.
Following this, the Indian Embassy in Jakarta stated that the Navy officer had only pointed out that India’s armed forces serve under “civilian political leadership”, unlike some neighbouring countries.
“It was also explained that the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure and the Indian response was non-escalatory,” it added.
The Indian Embassy also said that Kumar’s remarks were “quoted out of context” and “the media reports are a misrepresentation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker”.
The officer had made the comments while speaking at a seminar titled “Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies from the Perspective of Air Power” at a university in Jakarta.
Kumar’s statement came more than a month after Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan’s May 31 comments that were seen by some as an acknowledgement of the Indian Air Force’s loss of aircraft...
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