THIS refers to Air Marshal (r) Ayaz Ahmed Khan’s letter ‘M.M. Alam a hero for ever’ (March 23) wherein he has narrated, inter alia, about the forced retirement of the hero.

In my letter (March 7), I had mentioned about the incident without giving the name of Mr Alam out of respect for him. Taking exception to my letter, a retired air commodore wrote back (March 11) that I had tried to create an impression that “…even a war hero can be shunted out for being very vocal....”

He also contended that “PAF does not prohibit criticism..........if it is meant for improvement......and not for venting personal grievances.”

Air Marshal (r) Ayaz has very candidly written about the circumstances and the reason for the removal of the war hero from the service.

It was definitely not a personal grievance of Mr Alam which made him write to the then air chief.

As for as the pension benefits, I wonder whether they were refused by the officer himself or were denied by the air chief. I pray for the departed soul of our war hero.

KARAM A. SIDDIQUI Karachi

A man of principles I JUST couldn’t control my emotions and wept on reading what Air Marshal (r) Ayaz Ahmed Khan wrote (March 23) about the late Air Commodore M.M. Alam (Sitar-i-Jurrat and bar).

That he remained hungry for two days was just too much for any sensitive person. It is indeed sad that Mr Alam went through such tough times.

As a man of integrity and as a matter of principle, he refused to accept pension on retirement from PAF and as a consequence saw very tough times.

About two weeks before the death of this great hero of the 1965 war, my letter appeared in these columns, requesting fellow countrymen to pray for his miraculous recovery.

The entire nation owes a lot to him. Ever since his death, I have been praying to Allah to grant him a place in the heavens.

It is indeed very sad that his colleagues in PAF, who were aware of his principled stand and his predicament, couldn’t convince the then air chief to review his decision and convince Alam to accept his well-earned pension on retirement.

Air Marshal (r) Ayaz, in his capacity as vice chief of air staff, could have done a lot for him. He couldn’t possibly be so helpless being next only to the air chief in seniority and position in the PAF.

A few voluntary retirement requests from his colleagues in protest against the ill-treatment meted out to him could have been, perhaps, very effective.

CDR (r) ABDUL QAYUM KHAN Karachi