Is Pakistan lying about shooting down Indian fighter jets?

medium nocaption120999649The Pakistani military has claimed it shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation to India's Wednesday-night strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.Pakistan’s count of the jets downed went up from two to three, and then five as the night progressed.However, at a media briefing on May 7, 2025, led by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri hours after the operation began, India offered no reaction to Pakistan's claim. Though questions were expected at the end of the briefing, the officials did not take any. When asked about the downed jets at the end of the second briefing on May 8, 2025, Misri said, "When the time is right official information will be given."The Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking handle on X (formerly Twitter) did debunk as “an old photograph” the picture of a crashed aircraft being circulated online. There has, however, been no further clarity from India on this. An old image showing a crashed aircraft is being re-circulated by pro-Pakistan handles in various forms in the current context of #OperationSindoor #PIBFactcheck

✔️The image is from an earlier incident involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-29 fighter jet that crashed in… pic.twitter.com/6NJQvRH7KJ

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 7, 2025 mediumIndia claim accepted by PakistanAccording to India, nine terror hideouts of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen were destroyed under ‘Operation Sindoor’.The IAF carried out precision strikes in four locations deep into Pakistan’s territory, while five targets were situated in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. According to the Ministry of Defence, the operation was “focused, measured and non-escalatory” and avoided any Pakistani military facilities.Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed the strikes, saying that India had carried out the attacks from within its airspace.India mum on Pakistan’s claimPakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed the downing of two Indian jets around 2.45 am after, what he said, was Pakistan’s swift response.He said the “confirmation” of the third plane, a Rafale aircraft, being hit, came an hour later, and that of the fourth and fifth Indian jets being taken down came after 5 am.Hours after Operation Sindoor, Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif, while addressing a session of parliament Wednesday, lauded his country’s army for its “swift response” to Indian strikes and reiterated its claim of shooting down five jets. He, however, did not provide any evidence to back this up.Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, speaking on CNN, quoted “social media” reports to back his country’s claims of shooting down Indian jets. He was called out by the CNN anchor who said she expected more than “references to social media reports” when talking to Pakistan’s Defence Minister. India, however, has chosen not to react to any of these claims. CNN anchor grills Pakistan's defence minister

Anchor: You say PAK shot down 5 Indian jets. Where's the evidence?

Khwaja Asif: It's all over social media

CNN Anchor: ....I'm sorry we didn't ask you here to talk about social media content pic.twitter.com/hA8LucaaKv

— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) May 7, 2025 mediumPakistan’s flip-flopReuters reported that the Pakistani military said the five Indian fighter jets included three Rafale planes and one each of Russian-made Su-30 and MiG-29 jets.In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the downing of the jets was not a hostile act and that Pakistan was only defending its territory. He added that Indian pilots had also been captured.But in a later interview with Samaa TV, Asif said that no Indian soldiers had been taken prisoner, reported Bloomberg. medium nocaption120954611Aircraft debris at four sites?In the media maelstrom that followed Operation Sindoor, some reports claimed there were metal debris of jets found in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor, Ramban and Pampore. There has, however, been no official confirmation of any of these reports. It’s unclear where the debris has come from and who the jets belong to. BREAKING: India starts to admit its fighter jet losses now.

IndiaTV reports that three Indian fighter jets have crashed inside Indian territory. pic.twitter.com/qc24ft2z2c

— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 7, 2025 mediumThe IAF also declined comments on reports of a plane crash or any other loss Wednesday, while wreckage of an unidentified aircraft was found in fields near Aklian Kalan village in Punjab’s Bathinda district around 1.30 am. A civilian was killed and 10 others were injured when they approached the site out of curiosity and a blast occurred.A call reporting the crash reached emergency helpline 112 around 2 am. Authorities collected debris from the site, located nearly 20km from Bhisiana airbase.The deceased, Gobind Kumar (32) of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, had travelled to Bathinda on April 13 for seasonal work at Goniana grain market. He was to return home Thursday. He is survived by wife Pooja and two children.For now, without official confirmation or independent verification, both countries remain locked in a war of claims.With inputs from Dawn, Reuters, and Bloomberg