CHARSADDA: Former Air Chief Marshal Hakeemullah Khan Durrani passed away in Islamabad early on Saturday.

He was laid to rest in his Sheikh Kallay village of Charsadda district later in the day.

Senior officials of Pakistan Air Force, police and district administration attended his funeral.

He was born in Sheikh Kallay in 1935 and studied at government high school No 1, Charsadda, till 8th grade. He did his matriculation from a Mardan school and got enrolled in Edwardes College, Peshawar. Later he studied for the second year at an Abbottabad college. He joined the PAF in 1956 and passed out as pilot officer in 1957.

He took part in the 1965 and 1971 wars. In 1976, he was appointed the first commanding officer of newly-established Combat Commanders School, PAF Base Sargodha.

In 1981, he was also made head of the Project Falcon overseeing the acquisition of the F-6 fighter aircraft for the PAF. He was made the PAF chief in 1988 and retired in 1991, and settled in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024