'Did not want to ...': Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif's absurd excuse for army's failure to withstand India's Operation Sindoor

NEW DELHI: In a bizarre claim designed to save face in light of the complete failure of its army to take on India's retaliation, Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif has said Pakistani forces did not intercept Indian drones as it did not want to reveal strategic military locations to the enemy.In a viral video, Asif told the parliament that Indian armed forces launched the drone attack to detect key locations in Pakistan."The drone attack that happened yesterday was basically carried out to detect our locations. This is a technical matter which I won’t explain in detail," Asif said."And that is why they were not intercepted — so that our locations are not leaked," he added.Earlier, Asif drew flak after he failed to provide concrete evidence for his claims that Pakistan had shot down five Indian jets during Operation Sindoor.When pressed for details during the interview, Asif could only cite "social media" as his source, leading to a pointed rebuke from the CNN anchor who reminded him that social media content wasn't the subject of their discussion."It's all over the social media, on Indian social media, not on our social media. The debris of these jets fell into Kashmir," Asif claimed during the interview.When questioned further about the military equipment used in the alleged downing of Indian aircraft, he deflected by discussing Pakistan's Chinese-manufactured aircraft inventory, including JF-17 and JF-10 jets."No, Chinese equipment. We have Chinese planes, JF-17 and JF-10. They are Chinese planes, but they are being manufactured, assembled in Pakistan now. We have, very close to Islamabad, we have a facility over there where these planes are manufactured and if India can buy planes from France and use them, we can also buy planes from China or Russia or United States, UK and use them," Asif further said.This comes after the armed forced launched a precision strikes on nine terrorist spots on Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under 'Operation Sindoor.'Following this, Indian armed forces thwarted Pakistan's attempt to carry out drone and missile strikes across LoC and International Borders.