Ruckus over Defense Attache’s statement on Operation Sindoor, Indian Embassy issues statement to clarify

New Delhi. A recent statement by India’s Defense Attache in Indonesia, Captain Shiv Kumar (Navy), in a seminar has created controversy. He claimed that in the initial phase of ‘Operation Sindoor’, the Indian Air Force had to “lose some fighter planes” because the political leadership had ordered not to attack military installations and only target terrorist hideouts.

In a seminar held in Jakarta on June 10, Captain Kumar said, “We suffered losses only because the political leadership had asked not to target Pakistan’s military structures or air defense.” He also said that after the initial losses, the Indian forces changed the strategy and carried out successful attacks with Brahmos missiles, destroying the enemy’s air defense.

Clarification given on the statement
As soon as this statement came out, a controversy arose and Congress started attacking the government. However, seeing the controversy growing, the Indian Embassy (Jakarta) clarified that Captain Kumar’s words were “presented without context” and “represented incorrectly in the media.” The embassy said in a post on X that he tried to tell that the Indian Army works under the political leadership, which reflects India’s democratic tradition.

The statement also stated that the purpose of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist hideouts and the action taken by India was not provocative. Let us tell you that Defense Attache is a senior military officer of India, who is posted in the embassy of a country and represents the defense establishment of his country there.

Sharp attack by Congress
The Congress Party termed this comment as a failure of the Modi government and raised questions as to why the Prime Minister is not calling an all-party meeting on this issue. Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “This comment directly fixes the accountability of the government.”

He accused Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the entire government of compromising national security. Khera cited earlier statements by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who had admitted losses in the initial stages of Operation Sindoor but did not give the number. Last month, General Chauhan told Bloomberg in Singapore that India changed strategy after losing the aircraft. He rejected Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian jets as “completely false”.