New Delhi: Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, has linked his country’s assertion that its forces shot down five Indian aircraft, including Rafales, during Operation Sindoor to reports circulating on social media. During a CNN interview, Asif made this unusual claim when questioned by a journalist about the evidence supporting Pakistan’s assertion.
He stated, ‘All the information is available on social media, specifically Indian social media, not ours. The wreckage of the aircraft landed on their territory and is widely reported in Indian media.’ This response came after India conducted strikes on terrorist facilities, including training camps and launchpads, in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, resulting in numerous terrorist casualties and serving as retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Pakistan has confirmed the occurrence of the attack and the resulting fatalities. Subsequently, India’s Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking unit revealed that Pakistani social media outlets had been disseminating an outdated and unrelated image of a crashed aircraft, attempting to misrepresent it as a downed Rafale. The bureau clarified that the image originated from a 2021 incident.
They cautioned, ‘Be wary of outdated images circulated by pro-Pakistan accounts in the current context! An old image depicting a crashed aircraft is being shared with the false claim that Pakistan recently shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur during Operation Sindoor. #PIBFactCheck: This image is from a previous incident involving an IAF MiG-21 fighter jet that crashed in Moga district, Punjab, in 2021.’
Asif stated during the interview that Pakistan is making efforts to prevent a full-scale war with India. He remarked to CNN, ‘There is a risk that this conflict could escalate into a full-scale war, which we are striving to avert.’ He further described the recent attack as a ‘clear violation and a provocation that could broaden the conflict, potentially leading to a more extensive and perilous situation for the region.’
Nevertheless, he affirmed that Pakistan is prepared for an all-out war. Earlier, in a conversation with Bloomberg Television, Asif indicated that Pakistan is willing to de-escalate tensions with India if New Delhi takes steps to reduce the situation. ‘We have consistently maintained over the past two weeks that we will not initiate any hostile actions against India. However, if we are attacked, we will retaliate.
Should India choose to de-escalate, we will certainly work towards resolving this tension,’ he stated. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s highest security council announced that the armed forces have been granted the authority to retaliate ‘at a time, place, and manner of their choosing’ in response to the casualties caused by Indian military actions. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh remarked that India’s military has made ‘history’ by executing operations with ‘precision, caution, and compassion’ in dismantling terrorist camps.
