Shahid Lateef (; , is a retired

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

three-star air marshal, geostrategist and

military strategist A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, and political commentator. Lateef is from Pakistan city of Sahiwal. A veteran

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

, Lateef was commissioned in April, 1974 in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), serving in influential staff appointments during his air force career. He completed an academic degree with top honours, and was awarded a

Sword of Honour The ''Sword of Honour'' is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh which loosely parallel Waugh's experiences during the World War II, Second World War. Published by Chapman & Hall from 1952 to 1961, the novels are: Men at Arms (Waugh novel), ''M ...

from the PAF Academy in Risalpur. Lateef has performed duties as a fighter pilot in various squadrons of the PAF and was among the founders of the

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

induction programme in the PAF. On March 24, 2017, Lateef accused

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

of a "blasphemous speech" to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

's Hindu community.

Biography

Lateef hailed from Sahiwal in Punjab,having a humble background with his late father being a stenographer clerk in the government. Years before Lateef was to be commissioned as an officer, he was an exceptional student at PAF Public School, Lower Topa. One of Latif's closest associates was Group Captain (R) Shamsher Ali (later commissioned in the Air Defence branch of PAF and served as DG NAB,Lahore) who had numerous anecdotal encounters with Lateef throughout his life.Both friends were extraordinarily gifted in the domain of athletic activities.In 1970, Lateef was inducted in the PAF Academy in

Risalpur Risalpur (Pashto/) is a city in Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Nowshera-Mardan Road. It is nearly 45 km from Peshawar and 18 km from Mardan and is located at 34°4'52N 71°58'21E. In a basin some 316 meters abo ...

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

, and participated in the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

with

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1971. Graduated with BA degree in 1974, he stood at the top of his class in his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

and conferred with

. He gained

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

in 1974 in General Duties Pilot (GDP) branch.

Air Force career

Due to his excellent performance on the Chinese F-6 aircraft, he moved on to the French

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', mean ...

at an early stage of his career. He was chosen in the group of the first six PAF Pilots to undergo F-16 conversion in the United States. Lateef was the first pilot to ferry the F-16 from USA to Pakistan in 1982, and formed part of the pioneer team for training pilots in Pakistan on the F-16 weapon system. With these same pilots he flew numerous combat missions in defence of Pakistan during the Afghan war in the 1980s. He was sent to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

where he was assigned the command of a Mirage squadron. He was then chosen to command a fighter squadron, fighter wing and a fighter base in the PAF. He has had numerous key staff appointments at the Air Headquarters including the JF-17 Project. He was to actively encouraged to the rank of Air vice Marshal, and was given the JF-17 Project; a programme that was not able to start due to difficulties, forcing the PAF to continue to operate obsolete equipment. Through his efforts, the JF-17 project finally came to life. He served the Air Force of Pakistan from September, 1971 to April, 2006. In recognition of his services he was awarded the

Hilal-e-Imtiaz The ''Hilal-e-Imtiaz'' (; ), also spelled as ''Hilal-i-Imtiaz,'' is the second-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") Awards and decorations of the Pakistan military, civilian award and honour given to both civilians and military Officer (armed fo ...

(Military),

Sitara-e-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

(Military) and Sitara-i-Basalat.

Defense analyst

After retirement from the PAF, Lateef started a new career as a defense analyst and appeared on a number of talk shows and gave his expert analysis on geopolitical affairs. Lateef has given bold opinions against several political developments and personalities in the country. However, later into his life, Lateef reportedly distanced himself from the public eye, simultaneously cutting off relations with some of his closest confidants, including Group Captain (R) Shamsher. This alarming change in behaviour has suspected to stem from a throat disease Lateef suffers from which makes it unpleasant for him to maintain social interaction.

Awards and decorations

Foreign Decorations

References