Indian defence attaché Captain Shiv Kumar made waves earlier this month after revealing that the Air Force had lost ‘some’ jets amidst Operation Sindoor. The Indonesia-based official cited political constraints that limited military targeting to only terror camps — dubbing it an act of “political signaling”. The Indian embassy had subsequently issued a clarification and insisted that his remarks were being “quoted out of context”.
Pakistan had previously claimed that its forces downed six Indian aircraft during Operation Sindoor — including three Rafales. Indian authorities had not initially acknowledged the extent or cause of damages, with Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan later noting the loss of an aircraft during the four-day military confrontation. The remarks from Captain Shiv Kumar came during a presentation last week after another individual referenced the Pakistani claims.
“I may not agree with him that India lost so many aircraft. But, I do agree that we did lose some aircraft and that happened only because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishments and their air defences,” he had said.
Who is Captain Shiv Kumar?
Little is known about the Indian Navy official currently attached with the embassy in Indonesia. He has been a navy Captain for the past few years — serving in various countries. Social media posts and official updates indicate that Captain Shiv Kumar has been a Defence Attache with the Indian Embassy in Jakarta for about two years. He had previously served as the Defence Attaché of India to Timor-Leste till 2023.
The now-viral comments had been made earlier this month while Captain Kumar was addressing an event in Jakarta. He had been speaking at an university seminar on “Analysis of the Pakistan-India Air Battle and Indonesia’s Anticipatory Strategies from the Perspective of Air Power”.
What did the Indian Embassy say?
As the purported video of the remarks made by Captain Shiv Kumar on June 10 at a gathering surfaced on Sunday, the Indian embassy in Jakarta had noted that the officer only stated the fact that the Indian armed forces serve under political leadership, unlike some other countries in India’s neighbourhood. The embassy said it was explained that the objective of Operation Sindoor was to target terrorist infrastructure and the Indian response was non-escalatory.
“His remarks have been quoted out of context and the media reports are a mis-representation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker. The presentation conveyed that the Indian Armed Forces serve under civilian political leadership unlike some other countries in our neighbourhood,” it added.