I joined the PAF as a Flight Cadet in 1961. Flew T-6 G Harvard and was commissioned in 1963 from the PAF Academy, Risalpur. There after I flew the T-33A and the F-86F and graduated from the Jet Conversion School in PAF Mauripur, Karachi. I was then posted to No.11 Fighter Squadron, Sargodha in November 1964. The Squadron was being commanded by Sqn Ldr M.M. Alam. I became operational in August 1965 and was allowed to take part in September, 1965 was with India. I considered myself very lucky to have taken part in the war as a Flying Officer (Lieutenant) with only about 80 hrs on the F-86F with a grand total of about 400hrs.

The first war mission

The war started from 6 Sept. and continued till 23 Sept 1965. At the outbreak of the war No.11 Squadron was tasked to carry out a dawn strike against the Indian Army in Chamb-Jurian sector with 2 Formations of 8 x F-86 aircraft. Each aircraft carried 32 x 5.75 inch rockets and 1800 x 0.50 inch ammunitions. We exhausted all the weapons on the convoy of the Indian army and returned to Sargodha safely. As it was a surprise dawn strike we faced only small arms fire from the enemy. By the time I landed and cleared the runway my aircraft flamed out because of shortage of fuel.

Bomber escort mission

On 9 September 4 x F-86 F of our Sqn were tasked to provide a low level escort mission to 3 x B-57 Bombers at day time to attack a train carrying ammunition at Gadro. The bombers carried out 4 attacks each and all 7 aircraft remained within heavy ack fire for about 15 minutes. All aircraft exited low level after successful delivery of weapons. The 3 bombers recovered at Peshawar and we 4 fighters came back to Sargodha all safe and sound. It was my first experience to remain in such heavy anti-aircraft fire for such a long time.

Ammunition train escort mission

On 11 September, I in a formation of 4 x F-86F took part in an escort mission at day time to give air protection to a train carrying ammunitions from Lahore to Sialkot sector. It might sound very easy but to give protection to such a slow moving train by so fast moving aircraft at low level by 4 aircraft for such a long time was very demanding. The train reached its destination and got its cargo off loaded.

Air combat with the Hunter

On 16 September, I along with my Squadron Commander, Squadron Leader M.M. Alam took off from Sargodha as his wing man to carry out a high level offensive patrol mission deep inside the Indian territory. We were flying in battle formation at 23000ft. between two Indian Air Bases, Halwara and Adampur. The aim was to invite the Indian fighters to come and fight with us. We could take such a venture because by then the PAF had already established air superiority over the IAF. It was about 2pm with clear blue sky when our ground controller from a radar station transmitted that 2 IAF Hunters had taken off from Halwara and were approaching to intercept us. When they came to our sight we jettison our drop tanks and entered into a close air combat. The air battle became intense and under such high ‘g’ maneuvers I could not stay on the tail of my leader. As it turned out, my leader shot the No.2 of the other formation and their leader shot me. My aircraft caught fire and I ejected through the shattered canopy at about 12000ft. I lost my conscious for a couple of seconds and by the time I got my senses back I could see that I was floating in the air and the small parachute was pulling out the bigger one. As I settled down with my parachute I saw a Hunter with streaming fuel and crashing with a big explosion. The Hunter pilot was shot in the cockpit. When I looked down to locate my probable landing spot, I noticed with horror that a person in uniform was pointing a .303 rifle and a civilian was aiming with a double barrel shot gun at me. Next I heard three shots and within a few seconds my feet touched the ground. I got up, released the parachute and saw myself surrounded by thousands of people. The name of the place was Taran Taran. The local police came, rescued me from the crowd and took me quickly to a nearby Police Station and then to a hospital. I was bleeding profusely from my back. The doctor operated upon me and showed me a .303 bullet taken out of my back. Regarding the pallets of the Shotgun, he said that I had already bled quite a lot and that I should not be operated any longer. Next day I was taken to IAF Base, Adampur and flown by the An-12 to Delhi and admitted in the CMH. The ceasefire was declared on 23 September through Tashkent declaration, when I was still in the CMH. Later, I was joined with another pilot and a navigator of the B-57 Bomber which was shot down by anti-aircraft  fire on 15 September in a night raid over IAF Base Adampur. We three returned to Pakistan in the second week of February 1966 with General Musa, the Army Chief, who went to Delhi to negotiate the troops withdrawal plan with his counterpart. There was a small ceremony of the Air Force Prisoners exchange which took place at the Palam Air Port, New Delhi where 8 Pilots of the IAF were exchanged with 3 Pilots of the PAF.

In the war of 1965 I flew a total of 19 missions including the Air Defense missions day and night up to 16 September. The story as a Prisoner of War (POW) was a different chapter of my life. However, I can say that the IAF treated me very well. In the later days when I joined the Bangladesh Air Force in 1972, I had the opportunity to visit the IAF as an official guest and met many friends whom I came in contact as a POW.

Post war activity