The Indian Air Force celebrated its 93rd anniversary on Wednesday with an event that drew attention for a unique menu that has now gone viral on social media.
Photographs of the dinner spread, circulating widely online, show dishes named after cities and sites targeted during Operation Sindoor, the May 7 strikes against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Telegraph Online has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the menu.
The menu, printed under the IAF crest, carried the slogan “93 Years of IAF Infallible, Impervious and Precise” and featured a range of dishes named after locations hit during Operation Sindoor.
The main course included Rawalpindi Chicken Tikka Masala, Rafiqui Rhara Mutton, Bholari Paneer Methi Malai, Sukkur Sham Savera Kofta, Sargodha Dal Makhani, Jacobabad Mewa Pulao, and Bahawalpur Naan.
Desserts featured Balakot Tiramisu, Muzaffarabad Kulfi Faluda, and Muridke Meetha Pan.
Each of the names on the menu corresponds to a city or site targeted in the operation.
Operation Sindoor struck nine terrorist camps deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including:
- Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur, the ideological and operational hub of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group.
- Markaz Taiba, Muridke, a sprawling 200-acre Lashkar-e-Taiba compound and one of the most fortified sites hit.
- Markaz Abbas and Gulpur camp in Kotli, a major JeM training and weapons distribution camp.
- Barnala camp in Bhimber.
- Syedna Bilal and Shawai Nalla camps, Muzaffarabad, used as infiltration points by sleeper cells.
- Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala, a regional logistics hub for LeT operatives.
- Mehmoona Joya camp in Sialkot.
- Sarjal and Tehra Kalan in PoK, pre-infiltration camps for newly recruited terrorists.
The viral menu has garnered over a million views on various social media platforms, yet there has been no official clarification from the Air Force.
One user on X wrote, “The fun menu doing rounds is not an official IAF menu and nor was it served at the At Home organised by IAF chief where President was Chief Guest. If I had known there would be this controversy, I would have clicked the picture of menu there. The menu doing rounds was part of an internal menu of a unit. Made for some fun, laughter internally at the local station level.”
During the celebrations, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh called Operation Sindoor a “moment of immense pride” for the nation.
Social media users responded with humour and banter, noting the creativity of the menu in commemorating the Air Force’s operational achievements while celebrating its annual formation day, first established on October 8, 1932.