Aircraft losses during Op Sindoor

CHIEF of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan has indicated that Operation Sindoor was not a smooth, flawless affair. India did suffer aircraft losses, even though the country’s political leadership has remained evasive. According to the CDS, “we were able to understand the tactical mistakes” and do course correction quickly. His honest admission takes nothing away from the success of Operation Sindoor. In fact, it shows that India’s armed forces were not at all rattled by early reversals; instead, they regrouped in no time to strike deep inside Pakistani territory and inflict heavy damage. Gen Chauhan has stopped short of specifying how many Indian jets were downed, though he has described Pakistan’s claim of shooting down six as “absolutely incorrect”. The Opposition, particularly the Congress, has been urging the government to clear the air on this contentious issue, but to no avail. At a media briefing on May 11, the day after the ceasefire was announced, the Indian Air Force’s Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, acknowledged that “losses are a part of combat” and all IAF pilots had returned home safely. He left it at that, thus keeping the veil of secrecy intact. It is apparent that the government is not keen on making these details public, perhaps fearing that this would take the shine off India’s fierce response to the Pahalgam terror attack. There is no quarrel with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s argument that Operation Sindoor is the biggest and most successful anti-terror operation in the nation’s history. However, brushing an uncomfortable fact under the carpet betrays a disturbing disregard for transparency. The government must tell the nation about the losses in no uncertain terms and set up a probe committee to figure out how and why things went wrong. This will surely help the armed forces learn lessons and avoid a repeat.

Editorials