The 80-year-old Legendary fighter pilot Saiful Azam, who was awarded Sitara-i-Jura’at for his heroics in the 1965 war against India, breathed his last at his residence in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Sunday morning, according to officials and media reports.
He had been suffering from various old-age complications for a long time.
Bangladeshi army’s mouthpiece Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate, Lt. Col. Abdullah Ibn Zaid also confirmed the death to Anadolu Agency over the phone. He said, “We came to know about his death but we have not published it on our official web page as he is a retired official.”
Pakistani Air Force Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, has expressed deep sorrow over the demise of the great war veteran. The PAF chief paid a rich tribute to Azam, saying that the former fighter pilot will be remembered for his professionalism and his role in the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, according to a media wing press release of PAF.
