Events held to celebrate Defence Day

Published September 7, 2020
FIGHTERS put on display at the Archives Gallery of the PAF Museum.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
FIGHTERS put on display at the Archives Gallery of the PAF Museum.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

KARACHI: The 55th Defence Day of Pakistan, celebrated and commemorated every year with much fervour on Sept 6, started with the change of guard ceremony at the Mazar-i-Quaid early in the morning.

Every year on this day, a contingent of cadets from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Academy Risalpur Asghar Khan, assumes the guard duties at the mausoleum of the Father of the Nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah. This year the contingent of 46 also included three women cadets.

Air Vice Marshal Shakeel Ghazanfar SI(M), Air Officer Commanding, PAF Academy Asghar Khan was the chief guest at the ceremony. He also laid a wreath at the grave of the Father of the Nation.

At PAF Museum

At the Archives Gallery of the PAF Museum, there were three fighters prominently placed right in the middle of the floor 0151 the F-86 Sabre, the F-104 or the Star Fighter and the Indian Gnat. All of these fighter jets are especially significant on the Defence Day of Pakistan.

It was M.M. Alam, one of Pakistan’s finest fighter pilots, who destroyed five Indian jets during the 1965 war, in the very single-seater F-86 Sabre now on display at the gallery. The aircraft was also accompanied with a statue of the decorated pilot. Alam shot down four of those five enemy jets within 30 seconds of his mission on Sept 7. The great pilot throughout his career downed some nine Indian fighter aircraft. Other than the nine destroyed, he also managed to damage two more Indian jets, a record which remains unbeaten to date. For his courage and valour, he was decorated with the Sitara-i-Jurat twice.

Homage paid to M.M. Alam, other war heroes

The other aircraft, the F-104 Star Fighter, also proved extremely useful in the 1965 war. It was this plane that forced an Indian Gnat to surrender and land near Sialkot at Pasrur during the war. The Gnat was also placed nearby as a war trophy. It was on September 3, 1965 that two Star Fighters flown by Flt Lt Hakimullah and Flg Off Abbas Mirza took off from Sargogha to intercept four Indian Gnats as a result of which one Gnat was made to surrender and force land at Pasrur. There was also a picture of the captured Indian pilot of the time, Sqn Ldr Brij Pal Singh, who later rose to be an air marshal in the Indian Air Force.

Team Cycologists

Also in commemoration of Pakistan’s Defence Day, Pakistan Maritime Museum hosted a group of cyclists, known as Cycologists, to pay their tribute to the martyrs and acknowledge the contributions of defence services provided by our military forces.

Team Cycologists had arranged a 30-kilometre-long cycle ride to honour and inspire the masses and to stir in them the spirit of patriotism. The cycling ride started immediately after dawn from Delawala Clifton with over 70 male and female cyclists of different ages moving in the form of a procession through Sharea Faisal before turning towards Karsaz to the Pakistan Maritime Museum.

The cyclists gathered at the propeller roundabout, a prominent landmark of this museum. Entering the museum area, they witnessed a formal flag hoisting ceremony at 8am by Commodore Jamil Akhter SI (M), the director general at the museum with the museum staff. The cyclists sang the national anthem with full enthusiasm and paid their respects to the military who selflessly served the country before leaving the venue chanting slogans of Pakistan Zindabad!

Song and film releases

Meanwhile, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) awakened the spirit of patriotism in the entire nation with the 4.15-minute-long release of a remake of an old patriotic song from the late 1970s and ‘80s called ‘Har Ghari Tayyar Kamran Hain Hum’ sung by Ali Hamza, Ali Azmat, Ali Noor and Asim Azhar.

Not forgetting the ongoing fight being put up by the front-line warriors of Pakistan, the doctors and healthcare workers of the country, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ISPR also released a, 11.15-minute video package to pay a special and touching tribute to them called ‘Sarfarosh’.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2020

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.