Shekhar Gupta
Now that both the Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force have made formal claims of the other’s aircraft they shot down in the 87-hour predominantly aerial conflagration in May, we can explore some deeper issues. These are not so much to do with the withheld veracity of the rivals’ claims, as with the larger issue. Do these numbers really matter? What do these count for?
I can begin this with a trick question: if in a war, one side lost 13 aircraft to combat and the other 5, who won?
All of the active India-Pakistan wars and conflicts have been short, 22 days in 1965 being the longest. Op Sindoor was just over three days. Whenever a conclusive outcome like a capitulation and mass surrender is missing, there’s scope for both sides to claim victory.
There is clarity in some situations, however. We Indians believe we won every war or skirmish, but accept that we lost 1962 to China. Similarly, the Pakistanis concede defeat in 1971. Their capitulation in the eastern sector was total, topped with the surrender of 93,000 taken POW.
Pakistan's Lt Gen AAK Niazi signing Instrument of Surrender on 16 December 1971; sitting next to him is India's Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora | Commons
Pakistan’s Lt Gen AAK Niazi signing Instrument of Surrender on 16 December 1971; sitting next to him is India’s Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora | Commons
So, which air force lost how many aircraft to combat in 1971, just in the eastern sector?
The numbers, established even by rival historians, with tail numbers and pilot names, are: India 13, Pakistan 5. These are losses in combat, not to accidents or the 11 Sabres the PAF pilots abandoned on Day 5 of the war before making a daring escape to Burma in commandeered civilian transport.
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