Expert rubbishes India's 'comical' plane downing claim

Prof Xizhong says India never produced any evidence to prove its claims

BEIJING:

A senior research fellow at China's Charhar Institute, Prof Cheng Xizhong, has rubbished Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh's claim that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one large aircraft during Operation Sindoor in early May.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the expert said everything should be based on evidence but India has never produced any evidence to prove that it had shot down Pakistani fighter jets even more than three months after conflict that started on May 7 and concluded on May 10.

"The Indian side has not presented any evidence, such as photos of the wreckage of the fighter jets, radar monitoring data, etc, while the Pakistani side had previously presented a large amount of relevant evidence of shooting down the Indian fighter jets.

"Therefore, the remarks by Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh are comical, implausible and unconvincing. We may call it self-amusement," he said.

In contrast, Prof Cheng said, the Pakistan side immediately provided a detailed technical report to international media after the clash ended.

Moreover, there are also confirmations from world leaders, senior Indian politicians, and foreign intelligence assessments that India suffered heavy losses of multiple aircraft.

"It is thus evident that no Pakistani fighter jet was hit or destroyed by the Indian side. On the contrary, the Pakistani side shot down six Indian fighter jets and destroyed S-400 air defense positions, among other achievements, which is an indisputable fact," he added.

On Saturday, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also dismissed claims by the IAF chief, calling them "as implausible as they are ill-timed".

In a statement posted on microblogging site "X", Asif said it was "ironic" that senior Indian military officers were being made to front "a monumental failure caused by the strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians".

He said for three months after the operation, no such assertions were made, whereas Pakistan had immediately provided "detailed technical briefings" to the international media - supported by independent observations acknowledging the loss of multiple Indian aircraft, including Rafale jets, as reported by world leaders, senior Indian politicians, and foreign intelligence assessments.

Asif reiterated that Pakistan had destroyed six Indian jets, S-400 air defence batteries, and unmanned aircraft, while disabling several Indian airbases.