AM Nur Khan led the PAF with stunning success in the war of 1965, & I had the honour to fly with him on many missions.
ISLAMABAD: Air Marshal Nur Khan was my mentor, a leader whose body and soul were forged in tempered steel. There are few intrepid men in history who lived with such courage and incontrovertible conviction as did AM Nur Khan, to his last breath, as I saw him descending with such grace. He was the second Pakistani chief of the country’s air force but second to none.
Excellence was never an option for him; it was an instinct and he proved it as he took Pakistan International Airlines to make it among the best in the world. In July 1965 he returned to the PAF to take over from the father of the air force, AM Asghar Khan. He led the PAF with stunning success in the war of 1965, which he always said was a senseless war perpetrated by unprofessional men at the helm.
On the day he took charge of the PAF, he got to know that thousands of mujahedeen including Pakistan army commandos were ready to annex Kashmir. He shot off to GHQ to confront General Musa, then the army chief, and asked why the PAF had been kept in the dark. He was told that the president didn’t want to escalate the matter by involving the PAF. However, he was concerned by the possibility that what if the Indian Air Force were to launch a pre-emptive attack and ground the PAF. If it weren’t for his alacrity and strategic perception the PAF would been devastated by a numerically, stronger IAF. Nur Khan ordered the PAF on red alert on September 1 as Operation Gibraltar came to a grinding halt and the Indians began a massive assault against Pakistan. Since Pakistani regulars were in the Valley, he ordered C-130 flights after consulting with the 12 Division commander, so that supplies could be air-dropped. He was on the first mission himself, which began past midnight in inclement weather with a rudimentary radar, in total darkness. On a second attempt, Group Captain Zahid Butt, goaded by Nur Khan, managed to drop the supplies on the target. News of this propelled the morale of the PAF to incredible heights and its performance in the 1965 war is history written in glorious splendour.
I had the honour to fly with him on an escort fighter during many missions he flew with my squadron based at Peshawar, the home of air force headquarters. He would arrive straight from his residence to our squadron, get in to his flying gear, order a coffee and hamburger, just like any young fighter pilot, and off we went to the firing range at Jamrud.
He was my mentor, our Commander-in-Chief, a man who considered nothing impossible and proved it with his professional excellence, integrity and intrepidness. A legacy few air forces in the world could boast to have inherited.
Farewell, my chief — I know you hated when I wrote in my book that you were a maverick, but you know that I meant you were incomparable and lightening fast at the draw. Pakistan’s history will place you at the highest pedestal of military leadership where few have preceded you.
May your heroic and noble soul rest in heavenly peace.
Air Commodore (retd) Syed Sajad Haider
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2011.
