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       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, GDPSquadron Leader M. Yousaf Khan, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Osama Ishfaq, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Hassan Anees, GDPSquadron Leader Talal Hassan, GDPSquadron Leader Fida Muhammad Khan, GDPFlight Lieutenant Muhammad Ashhad Amir, GDP

       Sitara-i-Basalat

       Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Ehsan Ulhaq, GDPAir Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed, GDPAir Commodore Attaullah Zeb, GDPAir Commodore Zia Aftab, GDPAir Commodore Muhammad Noman Ali Khan, GDPAir Commodore Ali Javed Hashmi, Engineer (Engg)Air Commodore Sajjad Haider, AD

       Tamgha-i-Basalat

       Squadron Leader Usman Yousaf, (shaheed) EnggAir Commodore Adeel Shahab Qureshi, GDPAir Commodore Farhan Zia, GDPAir Commodore Jehanzeb Burki, EnggAir Commodore Azhar Hasan, EnggAir Commodore Rana Ilyas Hassan, Air Defence (AD)Air Commodore Syed Muhammad Kamran Abid, ADGroup Captain Muhammad Salman, ADWing Commander Wajeeh Ullah Mian, GDPWing Commander Muhammad Shafaat Saeed, GDPWing Commander Malik Rizwan-Ul-Haq Iftikhar, GDPWing Commander Haider Ijaz, GDPWing Commander Junaid Azam, GDPWing Commander Awais Nazir, GDPSquadron Leader Jibran Rashid, GDPSquadron Leader Kashif Bashir, GDPSquadron Leader Hassaan Khan, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Zeeshan, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Saad, GDPSquadron Leader Saad Arif, EnggSquadron Leader Aamir Ghafoor, ADSquadron Leader Muhammad Arqam Raees, ADFlight 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, GDPAir Commodore Irfan Rasul Ghauri, GDPAir Commodore Abdul Ghaffar Buzdar, GDPAir Commodore Mudassar Arshad Malhi, GDPGroup Captain Muhammad Saleem Raza, GDPGroup Captain Muhammad Jawad Azim, GDPGroup Captain Ameer Hamza Mehdi, GDPGroup Captain Farhan Ahmed, GDPGroup Captain Umair Ali ADWing Commander Qasim Khan, GDPWing Commander Muhammad Umair Riaz, GDPWing Commander Muhammad Safyan Azad, GDPWing Commander Muhammad Waqas Rasheed, GDPWing Commander Umar Farooq, GDPWing Commander Engineer Muhammad FaisalWing Commander Imran Atif ADWing Commander Asim Ali Shah EduSquadron Leader Abdur Rehman, GDPSquadron Leader Zaeem Khalid, GDPSquadron Leader Muslim Raza, GDPSquadron Leader Zeshan Muhammad, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Umair Raza, GDPSquadron Leader Shaiq Ashraf, GDPSquadron Leader Muhammad Umar Ahmad, GDPSquadron Leader Makhdoom Muhammad Sami, GDPSquadron Leader Yasir Akram, GDPSquadron Leader Junaid Amjad Siddique, GDPSquadron Leader Mudassar Javed, GDPSquadron Leader Abdur Rehman Khan, GDPSquadron Leader Hassam Hassan, GDPSquadron Leader Abdul Rafay, GDPSquadron Leader Adnan Akram, GDPSquadron Leader Ali Qasim, GDPSquadron Leader M. Muneeb ul Hassan, GDPSquadron Leader Saroosh Haider, GDPSquadron Leader Sikandar Waseem, GDPSquadron Leader Hassam Ashfaq, GDPSquadron Leader Engineer Asfandyar AwanSquadron Leader Engineer Ammar Hussain FarooqiSquadron Leader Engineer Faizan Ul Haq RajputSquadron Leader Engineer Noman HydairSquadron Leader Muhammad Abid ADSquadron Leader Sulaman Ishtiaq Satti ADSquadron Leader Junaid Ahmed ADSquadron Leader Atta Ullah Sahibzada ADSquadron Leader Zia Ur Rehman ADSquadron Leader Nadeem Anwer Nadeem Admin and Special Duties (A&SD)Squadron Leader Muhammad Danish Iqbal A&SDSquadron Leader Majid Shehzad ITSquadron Leader Muhammad Azhar Latif MetSquadron Leader Rizwan Karim MESFlight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad SaroshFlight Lieutenant Engineer Rana Muhammad HasanFlight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad UsmanFlight Lieutenant Engineer Muhammad Zarar HashmiFlight Lieutenant Muhammad Yahya Haider A&SDFlight Lieutenant Usama Khalid A&SDFlying Officer Engineer Tabassum HussainFlying Officer Engineer Muhammad Hassaan NasirCWO Ikram KhanCWO M Ashraf KhanCWO Muhammad MajidCWO Shahid Kamran KhanWO Muhammad AzamAWO Muhammad AdnanChief Technician Sami UllahChief Technician Samander KhanChief Technician Muhammad AleemChief Technician Muhammad AshrafSenior Technician WaseemSenior Technician Arshad MobeenSenior Technician Asghar AliSenior Technician Ihsan UllahSenior 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.