New Delhi: A day after the Congress used a purported admission of ‘losses of air assets’ during Operation Sindoor by India’s defence attache in Indonesia to attack the Centre, the Indian Embassy in Indonesia issued a clarification saying that Captain (Navy) Shiv Kumar’s remarks were taken ‘out of context’ and ‘misrepresented’.
“We have seen media reports regarding a presentation made by the Defence Attache at a Seminar. His remarks have been quoted out of context and the media reports are a mis-representation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker,” the Embassy has stated in a post on X.
“The presentation conveyed that the Indian Armed Forces serve under civilian political leadership unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood. It was also explained that the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure and the Indian response was non-escalatory,” the statement added.
During the presentation on June 10, the defence attaché had said that the Indian Air Force lost “some aircraft” after it struck terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Sindoor. Captain Kumar further stated that the Indian forces had also been directed to not hit Pakistani infrastructure or air defences in the first strike.
“Only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their air defences,” he said, while explaining the reason why the IAF suffered lost fighter jets.
He went on to say that the Indian armed forces changed their tactics after the losses.
“We went for the military installations… we first achieved suppression of enemy air defences and then… all our attacks could easily go through using BrahMos missiles,” he said.
After his remarks went public, the Congress accused the BJP-led government of “misleading” the nation.
“Why is the PM refusing to preside over an all-party meeting and take the Opposition into confidence? Why has the demand for a special session of Parliament been rejected?” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
Party spokesperson Pawan Khera also claimed that the remarks were a “direct indictment.”They know they’ve compromised national security, and they’re terrified of what the Congress Party will expose before the people of India,” he said.
