Operation Sindoor - 'It's all over social media': Pakistan minister tells journalist on claims of downing 5 IAF jets

Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday landed in a soup over Islamabad's claims that Pakistani defence forces have downed five jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF), including Rafales, during Operation Sindoor. When questioned on these claims in a recent interview with CNN, Asif said that it is all over social media. 

On Wednesday, Pakistani media outlets reported that Pakistan's military had downed five Indian jets in response to late-night airstrikes from India on Kotli, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Bagh, and Muzaffarabad.

"It is all on social media, and Indian social media, not our social media. The debris of the jets fell on their side. It is all over the Indian media," Asif told CNN's Becky Anderson. As per media reports, sources within the Pakistani military claimed that they shot down 5 IAF jets and one drone in "self-defence".  

Watch the full video here

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the ongoing retaliatory actions by Pakistan against India but did not disclose specific details. Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of ISPR, stated in a CNN interview that two Indian Air Force aircraft were shot down near Bhatinda in Punjab and Akhnoor in occupied Kashmir.

Later, the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said that the images of a crashed plane shared by Pakistani social media handles were old and unrelated. PIB's fact-check unit said that the image being circulated on Pakistani social media was from a crash in 2021. 

It also said that these posts on Pakistani social media tried to pass it off as a downed Rafale during Operation Sindoor. 

About India's Operation Sindoor

On early Wednesday morning, India targeted terrorist infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), killing around 80-90 terrorists. 

The action was seen as a revenge for the dastardly terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's (J&K) Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed the lives of 26 people. Pakistan has acknowledged the attack and the casualties as a result of India's precision strikes. 

The government has maintained that no Pakistani military infrastructure was attacked, and the selected sites were chosen with care to prevent the loss of civilian lives. 

In his first reaction to Operation Sindoor, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an "act of war" by India. Despite India's evidence of targeted terror camps, Pakistan alleged that the strikes resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children.