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By Iftikhar Ali
WASHINGTON, Jul 19 (APP): US President Donald Trump has said he believes up to five military aircraft were shot down during recent conflict between India and Pakistan that erupted following the Pahalgam attack in April.
Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner he hosted for some Republican U.S. lawmakers at the White House, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to.
The U.S. leader said: “In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually.”
The hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours followed an attack in April that New Delhi blamed — without any evidence — on Pakistan-based militants, a charge Islamabad firmly denies.
In retaliation, the Pakistan Air Force swung into action and shot down five Indian fighter jets in aerial battles – including three advanced French-made Rafales.
While officially India has refused to confirm the loss of aircraft but when asked by a Bloomberg correspondent in June if Pakistan was accurate in its claim that upto “six Indian jets” were downed, India’s Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan responded, “what is important is why they went down,” appearing to confirm losses without specifying a number.
A ceasefire was reached on May 10.
Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for helping to bring about the truce, saying US pressure on both sides led to de-escalation.
However, India has publicly disagreed with that version of events, stating the ceasefire was achieved through direct communication between New Delhi and Islamabad, without third-party involvement.
In his remarks to Republican senators on Friday, Trump said: “You had India, Pakistan, that was going… in fact, planes were being shot out of the air…four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually…that was getting worse and worse, wasn’t it?
“That was looking like it was going to go, these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other,” he said.
“But India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger. And we got it solved through trade. We said ‘You guys want to make a trade deal. We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons. Both very powerful nuclear states,” Trump said.
He said his administration achieved more in six months than almost any other administration could accomplish in eight years.
“Something I’m very proud of, we stopped a lot of wars, a lot of wars. And these were serious wars,” Trump said.
Since May 10, Trump has repeatedly asserted several times on various occasions that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors that America will do a “lot of trade” with them if they stopped the conflict.
On June 18, President Trump hosted Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir for a lunch meeting at the White House.