Replying to a question at a press conference at Southern Air Command headquarters here, the Air Chief said that the officers who accompanied the Defence Minister at the meeting were not aware of the nature of the meeting. They did not realise the implications of briefing the participants at the meeting, which later turned out to be controversial, he said.

It may be recalled that Air Marshal S K Malik, Additional Assistant Air Chief (Operations) and Lt General N C Vij, Director General (Military Operations) had attended the BJP national executive meet to brief on the steps being taken in Kargil sector. The briefing had come in for sharp criticism with the Opposition terming it as ``inconceivable''.

The Air Chief admitted that such instances would expose the defence forcesto political interference. The officers were expected to brief the Cabinet, all-party meetings and MPs on defence activities, he said.

He, however, denied the charge of politicisation of defence forces.

Regarding the IAF's participation during the Kargil operations, Tipnis said that the IAF had used air power very effectively during the war. Many innovations and modifications had to be done keeping in with the demands of the difficult battle terrain. ``We formed our own attack strategy'', he said.

When asked whether the IAF was hesitant to cross the LoC, the Air Chief said that for any such step, government clearance was essential. Several precautionary measures would have to be taken before resorting to such an operation.

The government had directed the IAF to contain the operation in the limited area. Had the IAF been allowed to cross the LoC the operation could have ended faster, he said. However, he disagreed that crossing the LoC could have resulted in lesser casualties.

While justifying theshooting down of Pakistan Navy's anti-submarine aircraft Atlantique in the Kutch region, he said that the enemy plane was advancing towards ``our aircraft'' in spite of the warning. He rejected the Pakistani claim that the aircraft was shot down in its territory. The debris of the falling aircraft got scattered, he said.

Tipnis accused Pakistan of firing at IAF reconnaissance aircraft which was flying 10 km inside the international border. As per the international conventions, Pakistan was informed about aircraft flying close to the international border.

He said the media coverage of the war was very good. It had brought the happenings on the battle-front to every household and succeeded in arousing the national consciousness. However, he hastened to add that the Defence forces also got a raw deal at times.

When asked whether the recent resignation of Deputy Chief of Air Force S S H Naqvi and his second-in-command M M Sehgal, who had been shuffled, would affect the morale of the Air Force, Tipnis saidthat the officers had not resigned. One of them had sought premature retirement owing to personal reasons and the other on health grounds. The transfers were routine.