ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday rejected the Indian air chief’s assertion his country shot down six Pakistani military aircraft during a standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors, saying no Pakistani aircraft was hit and adding that wars are won through professional competence, not fabrications.

Indian Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh told a gathering in New Delhi earlier today his country had downed five Pakistani fighter jets and one large surveillance plane in “the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill” at a range of 300 kilometers. Singh’s assertion was the first such statement by India months after its worst military conflict in decades with its neighbor.

India targeted what it called “terrorist infrastructure” inside Pakistan earlier this year in May, calling it Operation Sindoor and saying it was in response to a gun attack in Indian-administered Kashmir which it blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied any involvement and called for an impartial international probe into the incident.

Pakistan said during the intense, four-day standoff it had shot down six Indian fighter jets, including French-made Rafales, right at the outset of the war. It also gave a technical briefing to the foreign media on how the situation unfolded at the outset of the conflict.

“Not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed by Indian,” the minister said in a social media post on X. “Pakistan destroyed 6 Indian jets, S400 air defense batteries and unmanned aircraft of India while swiftly putting several Indian air bases out of action.”

He called it ironic that senior Indian military officials were “used as the faces of monumental failure caused by strategic shortsightedness of Indian politicians,” pointing out that for three months, no such claims were voiced by New Delhi.

He said if the truth was in question, both sides should open their aircraft inventories to independent verification.

“Wars are not won by falsehoods but by moral authority, national resolve and professional competence,” the minister said. “Such comical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment.”

Asif warned that, as demonstrated during his country’s response to India, every violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would invite a “swift, surefire and proportionate response,” adding that responsibility for any ensuing escalation would rest entirely with “strategically blind leaders who gamble with South Asia’s peace for fleeting political gains.”

India has previously acknowledged some losses, with its Chief of Defense Staff Anil Chauhan saying in an interview with Bloomberg that his forces had made a “tactical mistake” during the May conflict, but denying that six aircraft were lost.

Responding to a question, Chauhan said it was not important how many Indian planes were downed in the war.

“The good part is we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets, again targeting at long range,” he said.

Separately, France’s air chief, General Jerome Bellanger, has said he has seen evidence of the loss of three Indian fighters, including a Rafale.

The Indian Air Force has not commented on the claims.

With input from Reuters