Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Saturday backed the Indian government’s move to pause Operation Sindoor stating that the decision reflects wisdom and restraint after achieving key military objectives.
"People got down to their egos in the war. Once we achieved our objective, we should have looked for all windows of opportunity to stop. Some people very close to me said, 'Aur maarna tha'. But can we continue to be at war? The nation has taken a good decision," Air Chief Singh said.
Air Chief AP Singh's remarks came after several opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, questioned the timing and reasoning behind the military pause during Operation Sindoor.
{{/usCountry}}Air Chief AP Singh's remarks came after several opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, questioned the timing and reasoning behind the military pause during Operation Sindoor.
{{/usCountry}}Also Read | Balakot ‘ghost’ laid to rest with Operation Sindoor: IAF chief AP Singh
Addressing an event at the Hal Management Academy, Singh further said that no country should remain at war when they have the power to stop and that's what India did.
“Can we continue to be at war? Why should we remain at war when we can stop it? That's my way of looking at things, but I think the nation has taken a very, very good decision, and we were a part of that decision. The decision was taken at a much higher level. Now we have to ensure that we remain alert and steadfast,” Singh said.
Air Chief on Operation Sindoor's success
Talking about Operation Sindoor's success, Air Chief Singh also said that the Indian Armed Forces had destroyed at least five Pakistani fighter aircraft and one large aircraft.
Also Read | IAF's S-400 shot down 5 Pakistani fighter jets during Operation Sindoor: Air chief marshal AP Singh
"We have at least five confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEW &C aircraft, which was taken at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about," Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said.
Listing other damages on Pakistan's defence capabilities, the Air Chief said, "We were able to get at least two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala. At least six radars, some of them big, some of them small. Two SAGW systems that is in Lahore and Okara. We attacked three hangars. One was the Sukkur UAV hangar, the Bholari hangar and the Jacobabad F-16 hangar. We have an indication of at least one AEW&C in that AEW&C hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance there."