Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui was a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

in the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

who is known for his gallant actions in two of the aerial

dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every majo ...

s during Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and is a recipient of both the

Hilal-e-Jurat The Hilal-e-Jurat ( ur, , as if it were ''Halāl-e-Jurāt''; English: Crescent of Courage , sometimes spelled as Hilal-e-Jur'at, Hilal-e-Jurat, Hilal-i-Jurrat and Hilal-i-Juraat)Various official sources that are highly reputable spell the name ...

(Crescent of Courage) and the

Sitara-e-Jurat Sitara-e-Jurat (, Star of Courage) is the third highest military award of Pakistan. It was established in 1957 after Pakistan became a republic; however, it was instituted retrospectively back to 1947. It is awarded for Courage, gallantry or dist ...

(Star of Courage) military awards from the Government of Pakistan.

Early life

Sarfraz Ahmed Rafiqui was born in

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

(then

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, present

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) on 18 July 1935. He had three brothers and a sister. He started his education at

St. Anthony High School, Lahore , motto_translation = Knowledge with Virtue , established = , type = Private pre-school, primary, high school and college , gender = Boys , religion = Catholicism , denomination = , patron = St. Anthony of Padua , affiliations = , ...

, matriculating from Government High School,

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

in 1948. With the transfer of his father to Karachi, he joined

D. J. Sindh Government Science College Dayaram Jethamal Sindh Government Science College, ( sd, ) commonly known as DJ Science College, is a public community college that is affiliated with the University of Karachi — it is located near Burns Road in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Pre ...

.Profile of Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui
Fearlesswarriors.pk website, Retrieved 6 October 2021

Military career

Inspired by his elder brother "Ijaz Rafique", Sarfaraz joined the

Royal Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

's 13th GDP course and graduated from Risalpur Academy in 1953. In 1962, he was appointed as the

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, ...

of the No. 14 Squadron which was based in

Tejgaon Airport Tejgaon Airport is a Bangladesh Air Force military base in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It served as the country's sole international airport prior to the construction of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. History The British had built military ai ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

(Present day Bangladesh). In 1963, he was posted at

1965 War

Air Battle over Chammb

On the evening of 1 September 1965,

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

intervened at

Chhamb Chhamb ( pa, ), also known as Iftikharabad ( pa, ), named after Iftikhar Khan Janjua is an area in the southern tip of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The Chhamb sector consists of many villages, Kherowal, Burejal, Nagial, Paur, Dingawali, Chak Pandit, ...

Sector by sending 26 aircraft (12

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

s and 14 Mystere IVs) to slow down the Pakistan Army's XII Division's

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

against

Akhnoor Akhnoor is a city and municipal committee, near city of Jammu in Jammu district of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies 28 km away from Jammu city. Akhnoor is on the bank of the Chenab River, just before it enters the Pak ...

in response to an SOS from the Indian Army. The IAF's 45 Squadron was ordered to provide Close Air Support to Indian forces in the area. These 26 planes flying in finger-four formation strafed Pakistani positions and attacked Pakistani tanks and ground targets, however when these Indian planes were sighted, the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF) scrambled two F-86 Sabres, flown by S/L Sarfraz Rafiqui of No 5 Sqn and F/L

Imtiaz Bhatti Air Commodore Imtiaz Bhatti (born 18 April 1933) in Gujrat, British India, is a cyclist and a former Air Force pilot of Pakistan. He was the Pakistan cycling champion during his student days at Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now Univer ...

of No 15 Sqn from

Sargodha Sargodha ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as ...

to intercept them. Though heavily outnumbered, the two pilots engaged the Indians and in the ensuing

over

, both pilots shot down two

each. Rafiqui had took on flight leader and wingman while Bhatti had went after element leader and element wingman. Indian Air Force vampire wreckage

India acknowledged losing four aeroplanes, all 4 IAF Vampires, flown by Squadron Leader Aspi Kekobad Bhagwagar (flight leader), Flight Lieutenant Vijay Madhav Joshi (element leader), Flight Lieutenant Satish Bharadwaj (element wingman) and Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) Shrikrishna Vishnu Phatak (wingman). Both PAF pilots were credited with shooting down two

s each and were awarded with Sitara-e-Jurrat for this mission. This dogfight was a major blow to the IAF since it had to recall all vampires from frontline service to reduce losses.

Halwara Airstrike & subsequent death

On 6 September 1965, in response to India's Invasion of Pakistan, the Pakistan Air Force launched an aggressive

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

campaign on several Indian Air Force stations. Sarfaraz Rafiqui was tasked to lead a formation of three

F-86 Sabres The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing S ...

to strike the IAF's Halwara Air Base along with Flight Lieutenant Khawaja Younus Hussain as his number 2 and Flight Lieutenant

Cecil Chaudhry Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry (Urdu:سیسل چودھری) (27 August 1941 – 13 April 2012) was a Pakistani academic, human rights activist, and a veteran fighter pilot. As a flight lieutenant, he fought in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 ...

as number 3. The formation took off from

PAF Base Sargodha PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Base Sargodha), ), is a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase situated at Sargodha in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is designated as a "Major Operational Base" or "MOB" by the PAF.Halwara Halwara is a township in Punjab state in India.Located in the Ludhiana close to Village Sudhar, Halwara lies on the Mullanpur- Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, mi ...

. On the way, the formation met up with Squadron Leader MM Alam's formation which was returning from an aborted raid on the IAF's

Adampur Air Force Station Adampur Airport , Jalandhar is the primary airport serving the cities of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur in Punjab, India. It is located at Adampur Town of Jalandhar district in Northern India, on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur main highway 23 km (14 mi) ...

who informed them about their encounter with 4 Indian Hakwer Hunters over Tarn Taran (Alam had shot down one of them while the rest managed to escape). Nevertheless, Rafiqui's formation continued their flight and reached the Halwara base in the

evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at the end of the afternoon and overlaps with the beginning of night. The exact times when evening begins and ends depend on location, time of year, and culture, but it is generally regarded as beginn ...

where the remaining 3 hunters from the earlier encounter with MM Alam's formation were taxiing back after landing. Just as Rafiqui was positioning himself for a

strafing Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...

run, two IAF Hunters (flown by Flg Off P S Pingale and Flg Off A R Ghandhi) on a

Combat Air Patrol Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, ...

intercepted his formation. Rafiqui quickly aborted his strafing run and engaged Pingale. He manoeuvred behind the enemy hunter and shot it down. Rafiqui then engaged Gandhi's Hunter scoring several hits on the enemy plane when suddenly his Sabre's 50 cal machine guns jammed. He then Radio'ed

and said: Cecil, my guns have stopped firing, you have the lead. While Rafiqui was positioning himself as Cecil's

Wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to t ...

, Gandhi managed to get behind Rafiqui but failed to score any hits on the Sabre due to his poor aim. Minutes later, Gandhi was shot down by Cecil as he came to Rafiqui's aid. Since the formation was low on fuel and daylight, along with Rafiqui's jammed guns, they decided to head back to base but were suddenly bounced by two more IAF hunters (flown by Flt Lt D N Rathore and Flg Off V K Neb). Rathore attacked Rafiqui while Neb engaged Younas. In the ensuing dogfight, both Rafiqui and Younas were shot down while Cecil Chaudhry managed to escape. Rathore who had ambushed Rafiqui managed to score several hits on Rafiqui's Sabre which suddenly banked sharply to the left and then crashed into the ground near the village of Heren which was around six miles away from

Halwara Halwara is a township in Punjab state in India.Located in the Ludhiana close to Village Sudhar, Halwara lies on the Mullanpur- Raikot road. It is also famous for its Air Base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, mi ...

. He was declared

Missing In Action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...

by the Pakistan Air Force but after his absence in Prisoner Exchanges after the war, the PAF officially declared him as

KIA Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

. According to reports, Rafiqui is buried in an unmarked grave near

Honors and legacy

The Pakistan Air Force's third largest air base, PAF Base Shorkot was renamed as PAF Base Rafiqui in honour of Sarfaraz Rafiqui's services and sacrifice.Tribute: Masters of the sky
Dawn (newspaper), Published 5 September 2009, Retrieved 6 October 2021 One of the largest roads of the

Lahore Cantonment Lahore Cantonment ( ur, ) is a garrison located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Although the cantonment is located within Lahore City District (UC 152), it is an independent municipality under control of the Military Lands & Cantonments Departmen ...

is named Sarfaraz Rafiqui Road in his honour. Rafiqui Shaheed Road in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

is also named after him. In

PAF Base Peshawar PAF Base Peshawar is an airbase of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the operational site of the PAF's Northern Air Command, located to the east of Bacha Khan International Airport, which i ...

, the road on which the Rear Air Headquarters and Fazaia Degree School & College are located is named Rafiqui Lane in honour of the war hero.Another road closed in Peshawar Cantt
Dawn (newspaper), Published 16 November 2009, Retrieved 6 October 2021

Parents' gesture

The Government of Pakistan awarded 77 acres of prime agriculture land as a recompense with the awards of HJ and SJ, which was bequeathed by Rafiqui's parents to the Sarfraz Rafiqui Welfare Trust.

Awards and Decorations

Hilal-i-Jur’at Citation

For his bold leadership displayed over Halwara, Rafiqui was awarded

Hilal-i-Jur'at The Hilal-e-Jurat ( ur, , as if it were ''Halāl-e-Jurāt''; English: Crescent of Courage , sometimes spelled as Hilal-e-Jur'at, Hilal-e-Jurat, Hilal-i-Jurrat and Hilal-i-Juraat)Various official sources that are highly reputable spell the name ...

, the second highest gallantry award of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. His Hilal-i-Jur'at citation read as follows:

References

External links

Sqn Ldr Sarfraz Ahmed Rafiqui HJ, SJ , Shaheed of 1965 War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafiqui, Sarfaraz Ahmed 1935 births 1965 deaths Pakistan Air Force officers Pakistani aviators Aviators killed by being shot down Pakistani military personnel killed in action Pilots of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Recipients of Sitara-e-Jurat Recipients of Hilal-i-Jur'at Pakistani people of Bengali descent St. Anthony's High School, Lahore alumni D. J. Sindh Government Science College alumni People from Rajshahi District