"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 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." -
Defence attache Naval officer Captain Shiv Kumar noted political constraints limited attacks on Pakistan's military
The Indian Embassy in Indonesia on Sunday said the remarks made by its defence attache at a recent seminar, in which he indicated that the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost jets to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor due to political constraints, were “taken out of context” and “misrepresented”.
The clarification followed after the Congress latched onto the Navy officer’s admission and accused the Modi government of misleading the nation on military losses suffered during a four-day conflict with Pakistan in May.
During a presentation at a seminar in Jakarta on June 10, India’s defence attache to Indonesia, Captain (Indian Navy) Shiv Kumar, acknowledged that the IAF lost “some aircraft” when it struck terror-linked sites under Operation Sindoor.
He said the Indian forces had been directed not to target Pakistan’s military infrastructure or air defences.
“Only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their air defences,” he said, explaining why the IAF suffered the loss of fighter jets.
Captain Kumar also stated that, after the initial setback, Indian forces changed the battle strategy.
“After the loss, we changed our tactics and 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.”
According to the mission, the attache was simply reiterating that Operation Sindoor’s aim was to target terrorist infrastructure and the civilian government’s orders to the military were to maintain a non-escalatory posture.
“The presentation conveyed that the Indian Armed Forces serve under civilian political leadership, unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood,” the embassy added, in a veiled jab at Pakistan.
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