Pakistan calls IAF chief’s statement ‘implausible, ill-timed and politically motivated’

ISLAMABAD: Stung by the IAF chief’s assertion, backed with photographs and video images, Pakistan swung into damage control, with its defence minister Khwaja Asif rejecting the statement that India had downed multiple Pakistani fighter jets and one large aircraft in Operation Sindoor. Asif called the statement “implausible, ill-timed and a dangerous distortion of the May clashes”. He also claimed the IAF chief’s statement was made “to serve domestic politics”.In a statement on X, Asif claimed New Delhi was attempting to rewrite the narrative months after the fighting ended. “It is ironic how senior Indian military officers are being used as the faces of monumental failure caused by the strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians,” he said.Asif said no such statement on Pakistani losses had surfaced for three months, while Pakistan had immediately shared “detailed technical briefings” with the international media.The minister insisted not a single Pakistani aircraft was destroyed. Instead, he claimed Pakistan’s forces had shot down six Indian jets, including advanced fighters, destroyed S-400 air defence systems, downed unmanned aircraft, and disabled “several Indian airbases”.“If the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification — though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure,” Asif said.