NEW DELHI: Discussions about India’s “Operation Sindoor” and the subsequent India-Pakistan conflict have resonated globally. US President Donald Trump claimed he used “trade inducements” to compel both nations to cease hostilities. Trump’s assertion has sparked extensive debate.

During the India-Pakistan aerial engagement, both Pakistan and Bangladesh, another neighboring country, claimed that Pakistan had destroyed multiple Indian fighter jets. This claim led to widespread jokes on social media, with many in India disbelieving such an outcome. Furthermore, no official statement from the military regarding the destruction of Indian fighter jets had been issued until now. For the first time, the Indian Army has confirmed that India lost a “number” of fighter jets during clashes with Pakistan. The exact count remains undisclosed.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, Chief of Indian Armed Forces Anil Chauhan stated in an interview, “The number is not important; what’s crucial is understanding why they were shot down.”

Pakistan had claimed to have shot down six Indian fighter jets. General Chauhan, the CDS, dismissed this information as “absolutely wrong” but conceded that India had lost “several” fighter jets.

The Chief of the Indian Armed Forces said, “The good thing is that we realized the strategic mistakes we made. We were then able to rectify them. Two days later, we were able to implement them again. We then flew all our aircraft again, targeting long ranges.”

Earlier in May, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that his country had shot down six Indian fighter jets. This claim remained unverified. Until Friday, the Indian government had refrained from commenting on whether it had indeed lost aircraft in the conflict.

Recently, Donald Trump claimed that without his intervention, India and Pakistan would have escalated to nuclear war. Chauhan refuted this information, stating very strategically, “I personally believe that channels of communication with Pakistan were always open to conduct conventional operations and control the situation within nuclear limits. There were several sub-steps on the escalation ladder that could have been used to resolve the issue without resorting to nuclear weapons.”

India has dispatched delegations to various countries to inform the international community that Pakistan harbors terrorism. Pakistan has done the same.