The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Shaheens were presented with national honours for their aerial performance in the recent conflict against India as part of Pakistan’s 79th Independence Day celebrations on Thursday.
In July, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said this year’s Independence Day would be marked as “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth). The term is used by the state for the conflict with India from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos with a ceasefire on May 10. The May conflict was sparked as New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack without evidence — a claim strongly refuted by Pakistan. On May 6–7, New Delhi launched air strikes that killed civilians. In retaliation, PAF downed six Indian planes in air-to-air combat on May 7. India’s highest-ranking general has also acknowledged that its forces suffered losses in the air, but denied losing six aircraft.
At a ceremony in Islamabad today, the awards, including both wartime and peacetime honours, were conferred by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), eight Sitara-i-Jurat (Star of Courage), five Tamgha-i-Jurat (Medal of Courage), 24 Sitara-i-Basalat (Star of Valour), 45 Tamgha-i-Basalat (Medal of Valour), 146 Imtiazi Asnad (mentioned in the Dispatches of senior commanders), 259 COAS Commendation Cards and one Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Military) (Medal of Excellence) were awarded to both officers and enlisted men.
Of the total, the following list includes the names and honours awarded to the PAF:
Sitara-i-Jurat
Wing Commander Bilal Raza General Duty Pilot (GDP)
Wing Commander Hammad Ibne Masood, GDP
Squadron Leader M. Yousaf Khan, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Osama Ishfaq, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Hassan Anees, GDP
Squadron Leader Talal Hassan, GDP
Squadron Leader Fida Muhammad Khan, GDP
Flight Lieutenant Muhammad Ashhad Amir, GDP
Sitara-i-Basalat
Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Ehsan Ulhaq, GDP
Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed, GDP
Air Commodore Attaullah Zeb, GDP
Air Commodore Zia Aftab, GDP
Air Commodore Muhammad Noman Ali Khan, GDP
Air Commodore Ali Javed Hashmi, Engineer (Engg)
Air Commodore Sajjad Haider, AD
Tamgha-i-Basalat
Squadron Leader Usman Yousaf, (shaheed) Engg
Air Commodore Adeel Shahab Qureshi, GDP
Air Commodore Farhan Zia, GDP
Air Commodore Jehanzeb Burki, Engg
Air Commodore Azhar Hasan, Engg
Air Commodore Rana Ilyas Hassan, Air Defence (AD)
Air Commodore Syed Muhammad Kamran Abid, AD
Group Captain Muhammad Salman, AD
Wing Commander Wajeeh Ullah Mian, GDP
Wing Commander Muhammad Shafaat Saeed, GDP
Wing Commander Malik Rizwan-Ul-Haq Iftikhar, GDP
Wing Commander Haider Ijaz, GDP
Wing Commander Junaid Azam, GDP
Wing Commander Awais Nazir, GDP
Squadron Leader Jibran Rashid, GDP
Squadron Leader Kashif Bashir, GDP
Squadron Leader Hassaan Khan, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Zeeshan, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Saad, GDP
Squadron Leader Saad Arif, Engg
Squadron Leader Aamir Ghafoor, AD
Squadron Leader Muhammad Arqam Raees, AD
Flight Lieutenant Muhammad Nouman Shafique, GDP
Imtiazi Sanad
Senior Technician Muhammad Ayaz (shaheed)
Senior Technician Najeeb Sultan (shaheed)
Chief Technician Muhammad Aurangzeb (shaheed)
Senior Technician Mubashir Javed (shaheed)
Corporal Technician Farooq Ahmad (shaheed)
Air Commodore Syed Nabeel Masood, GDP
Air Commodore Irfan Rasul Ghauri, GDP
Air Commodore Abdul Ghaffar Buzdar, GDP
Air Commodore Mudassar Arshad Malhi, GDP
Group Captain Muhammad Saleem Raza, GDP
Group Captain Muhammad Jawad Azim, GDP
Group Captain Ameer Hamza Mehdi, GDP
Group Captain Farhan Ahmed, GDP
Group Captain Umair Ali AD
Wing Commander Qasim Khan, GDP
Wing Commander Muhammad Umair Riaz, GDP
Wing Commander Muhammad Safyan Azad, GDP
Wing Commander Muhammad Waqas Rasheed, GDP
Wing Commander Umar Farooq, GDP
Wing Commander Engineer Muhammad Faisal
Wing Commander Imran Atif AD
Wing Commander Asim Ali Shah Edu
Squadron Leader Abdur Rehman, GDP
Squadron Leader Zaeem Khalid, GDP
Squadron Leader Muslim Raza, GDP
Squadron Leader Zeshan Muhammad, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Umair Raza, GDP
Squadron Leader Shaiq Ashraf, GDP
Squadron Leader Muhammad Umar Ahmad, GDP
Squadron Leader Makhdoom Muhammad Sami, GDP
Squadron Leader Yasir Akram, GDP
Squadron Leader Junaid Amjad Siddique, GDP
Squadron Leader Mudassar Javed, GDP
Squadron Leader Abdur Rehman Khan, GDP
Squadron Leader Hassam Hassan, GDP
Squadron Leader Abdul Rafay, GDP
Squadron Leader Adnan Akram, GDP
Squadron Leader Ali Qasim, GDP
Squadron Leader M. Muneeb ul Hassan, GDP
Squadron Leader Saroosh Haider, GDP
Squadron Leader Sikandar Waseem, GDP
Squadron Leader Hassam Ashfaq, GDP
Squadron Leader Engineer Asfandyar Awan
Squadron Leader Engineer Ammar Hussain Farooqi
Squadron Leader Engineer Faizan Ul Haq Rajput
Squadron Leader Engineer Noman Hydair
Squadron Leader Muhammad Abid AD
Squadron Leader Sulaman Ishtiaq Satti AD
Squadron Leader Junaid Ahmed AD
Squadron Leader Atta Ullah Sahibzada AD
Squadron Leader Zia Ur Rehman AD
Squadron Leader Nadeem Anwer Nadeem Admin and Special Duties (A&SD)
Squadron Leader Muhammad Danish Iqbal A&SD
Squadron Leader Majid Shehzad IT
Squadron Leader Muhammad Azhar Latif Met
Squadron Leader Rizwan Karim MES
Flight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad Sarosh
Flight Lieutenant Engineer Rana Muhammad Hasan
Flight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad Usman
Flight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad Zarar Hashmi
Flight Lieutenant Muhammad Yahya Haider A&SD
Flight Lieutenant Usama Khalid A&SD
Flying Officer Engineer Tabassum Hussain
Flying Officer Engineer Muhammad Hassaan Nasir
CWO Ikram Khan
CWO M Ashraf Khan
CWO Muhammad Majid
CWO Shahid Kamran Khan
WO Muhammad Azam
AWO Muhammad Adnan
Chief Technician Sami Ullah
Chief Technician Samander Khan
Chief Technician Muhammad Aleem
Chief Technician Muhammad Ashraf
Senior Technician Waseem
Senior Technician Arshad Mobeen
Senior Technician Asghar Ali
Senior Technician Ihsan Ullah
Senior Technician Muhammad Imran
While describing Pakistan’s response to the Indian Air Force, PAF Director General Public Relations Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed on May 12 said the PAF’s response was based “on the time and place of own choosing”, displaying “bold, aggressive and unwavering resolve of the brave military leadership”.
Last month, Chinese air force chief Lieutenant General Wang Gang lauded the “exemplary performance” during the aerial clash, praising the “decisive and measured response delivered by PAF pilots under the resolute leadership of the air chief”.
Last week, in response to claims that India had shot down Pakistani aircraft, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif noted that “not a single Pakistani aircraft was hit or destroyed” by India, adding that Pakistan took out six Indian jets, S400 air defence batteries and unmanned aircraft of India while “swiftly putting several Indian airbases out of action”.
France’s air chief, General Jerome Bellanger, has previously said that he has seen evidence of the loss of three Indian fighters, including a Rafale. The Indian Air Force has not commented on those claims.
Days after the air combat, The Washington Post, based on visual evidence analysed by experts, reported that at least two French-made Indian fighter aircraft were shot down by the Pakistan Air Force.
According to The Wire, India’s defence attache to Indonesia, Indian Navy Captain Shiv Kumar, while speaking at a seminar in June, acknowledged that the PAF downed the Indian fighters.
During his presentation at the event, Kumar had acknowledged the loss of Indian planes. According to Kumar, Indian fighter jets were “operating under strict political orders from the Modi government not to target Pakistani military installations or air defence systems”, The Wire reported.
“This self-imposed limitation by the government was intended to prevent escalation of conflict in a nuclear environment,” the outlet added, quoting the Indian officer.
India’s intelligence failure was central to the hour-long air battle between Pakistan and India, which led to the downing of Rafale aircraft by the Pakistan Air Force’s J-10 fighters using PL-15s missiles, according to a report.
Reuters interviews with two Indian officials and three of their Pakistani counterparts found that the performance of the Rafale wasn’t the key problem: central to its downing was an Indian intelligence failure concerning the range of the China-made PL-15 missile fired by the J-10 fighter. China and Pakistan are the only countries to operate both J-10s, known as Vigorous Dragons, and PL-15s.
The faulty intelligence gave the Rafale pilots a false sense of confidence that they were out of Pakistani firing distance, which they believed was only around 150km, the Indian officials said, referring to the widely cited range of PL-15’s export variant.
“We ambushed them,” the PAF official said, adding that Islamabad conducted an electronic warfare assault on Delhi’s systems in an attempt to confuse Indian pilots. Indian officials dispute the effectiveness of those efforts.
“The Indians were not expecting to be shot at,” said Justin Bronk, air warfare expert at London’s Royal United Services Institute think-tank. “And the PL-15 is clearly very capable at long range.” The PL-15 that hit the Rafale was fired from around 200km away, according to Pakistani officials, and even farther according to Indian officials. That would make it among the longest-range air-to-air strikes recorded.
