Indian naval officers admit that the country lost its fighter jets to a Pakistan fire during the conflict in May, saying the loss was the result of “constraints” placed on the Indian troops by the government of New Delhi.
Shiv Kumar, the captain of defense attack at the Indian Embassy in Jakarta, commented at a seminar held in Indonesia on June 10th. That statement was hardly noticed until Indian publication Wire reported it on Sunday.
Kumar’s claims sparked a political storm in India, where the opposition Indian National Assembly Party called them “indictment” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
So, how did Kumar respond to the Indian government and the opposition, and what happened between India and Pakistan on May 7th, what did Kumar say?
What happened between India and Pakistan on May 7th?
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated to a military conflict when India launched Operation Sindoah on May 7, targeting Kashmir in multiple missile attacks registered in Pakistan and Pakistan.
India said it had hit “terrorist infrastructure” in response to the murder of tourists held in Pahargam, Kashmir on April 22. Meanwhile, Pakistan said dozens of civilians were killed along with several military personnel in missile attacks.
Islamabad said it defeated six Indian jets in retaliation, including at least three Rafale fighters. Pakistani military spokesman Ahmed Schaudhry said all the planes had been defeated within Indian territory. There was also an information war that exchanged conflicting allegations and claims between India and Pakistan, but both agreed to one fact. Neither side passed to other territory during the attack.
Nuclearly armed South Asian neighbors then traded violent missile strikes and drone attacks on each other’s territory until they reached the ceasefire on May 10th. India argued that all conflicts with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally and there is no room for third parties to engage.
What did the Indonesian Indian Navy say?
At a seminar hosted by Indonesian airline former Suryadarma University, Kumar said, “I might not agree.” [with an earlier Indonesian speaker’s claim] We lost so many aircraft, but we agree that we lost some aircraft. ”
Kumar added: “It only happened due to the constraints given by the political leaders to not attack military facilities or their air defenses on May 7th.”
The Navy Attack said the Indian army has since changed its tactics and began targeting military facilities in Pakistan.
“We first achieved enemy air defense suppression, which is why all attacks can be easily passed using Brahmos missiles,” Kumar added.
Bluffmos, a product of an Indian-Russian joint venture, is a long-range missile. Indian media reported that India fired a Blahmos missile at an air force base in Pakistan on the night of May 9-10.
What did India say about fighter jets before?
After Pakistan first said it had shot down six Indian jets on May 7, New Delhi did not officially confirm or deny those claims.
When Global Times, a Chinese state news outlet, reported that Pakistan had defeated an Indian fighter, the Indian embassy in China described it as “disinformation.”
However, Indian officials then began to suggest that they had lost the plane.
When asked by a reporter on May 11 if Pakistan defeated an Indian jet, India’s Air Operations Director Ak Bharti said:
Indian defense director General Anil Chauhan later admitted in an interview with bystanders at the Shangri-La Dialogue Security Forum in Singapore, which will be held from May 30 to June 1, that the Indian jets had been collapsed by Pakistan without specifying the number of Jets.
Chauhan’s approval, which was held during an interview with Reuters news agency and Bloomberg television, comes when Indian officials first confirmed that an Indian jet had been shot down. “What was important was why these losses happened and what we do afterwards,” Chauhan said.
When a Bloomberg reporter asked Chauhan about Pakistan’s claim that Pakistan’s Indian jet had collapsed, Chauhan replied that the information was incorrect. He added, “The key is… not the Jets were defeated, but why did they fall?”
After the defeat on May 7, India has performed a “organized tactic” and “hitting the airbase deep within Pakistan, infiltrating all air defenses with immunity and carrying out a precise strike.”
How did the Indian government respond to Kumar’s comments?
In a statement posted on X Account on Sunday, the Indian Embassy in Indonesia said: “[Kumar’s] The statements are taken from the context, and media coverage is a false representative of the intention and thrust of the presentations made by the speakers. ”
The embassy said in the presentation that Operation Sindore was launched to target “terrorist infrastructure” and Attache explained that it was trying to emphasize that India’s response was not intentionally escalation.
“The presentation conveyed that unlike some other countries in our neighborhood, the Indian army would serve under civilian political leadership,” he added to the Bab in Pakistan, the military’s most dominant institution.
We’ve seen media coverage of the presentations given by Defence Attack at the seminar.
His statements are taken from the context, and media coverage is a false representative of the intention and thrust of the speaker’s presentation.
presentation…
– India in India (@indianembjkt) June 29, 2025
Is this a change in India’s position?
not much. Neither the Indian government nor the military candidly link to the orders of the Modi government on May 7 to the loss of jets to the military, but New Delhi was consistent with the story surrounding the purpose of the day.
In a media statement after India launched the missile on May 7, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the actions of Indian military forces were “measured, non-exhaust, proportional and responsible.”
Indian Army Colonel Sophia Kureshi, accompanied by mithr at the briefing, stressed that “military facilities are not being targeted.”
After the ceasefire, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told reporters before firing in Pakistan on May 7, New Delhi had sent a message to Pakistan that we were firing on terrorist infrastructure. [Pakistani] The military has the option of not interfering with this process.”
“They chose not to give that good advice,” Jaishankar said.
The Indian government claimed that the Pakistani military’s response to the May 7 attack in New Delhi culminated in missile exchanges on May 10, forcing retaliation.
Why did this rekindle the line with the Indian opposition?
The main opposition parliamentary party is asking Modi’s Bharatiya Janata government to inform Congress about India’s aviation losses in conflict.
When Chauhan admitted that the Indian plane had collapsed, members of the Congress called for a review of India’s preparations for defence.
“There are some very important questions that need to be asked,” Congress leader Marikaljun Kalge wrote in a post at the time. “These can only ask if a special session of the Congress will be called soon.”
Kumar’s remarks revived these calls.
“The Modi government has been misunderstood from the start that it failed to disclose the loss of the aircraft during Operation Sindoah,” Congress leader Pawan Kara wrote to X on Sunday, calling Kumar’s comments a “prosecution” of the government.
“It’s no wonder they are ducking our demands for special parliaments like the plague. They know they’re compromising national security, and they are afraid of what the Congressional Party will expose in front of the people of India,” writes Khera.
Another council leader, Jairam Ramesh, posted on X on Sunday.
What caused the conflict in May?
On April 22nd, a group of armed men killed 26 people (almost all of their tourists). Pahargam is Pahargam, a popular tourist destination in Kashmir, managed by India. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF) has argued responsibility for the attack.
New Delhi accused Pakistan of supporting such groups, TRF, which is a derivative of another Pakistan-based armed group, Lashkar Etaiba (let). Islamabad denied the allegations and called for a neutral investigation into the attack.
After the Pahalgam attacks, the already diminishing relationships between neighbors deteriorated. Pakistan and India reduced their diplomatic involvement, suspended participation in bilateral treaties, and expelled each other’s citizens.
