PAF Academy

The PAF Academy Risalpur has been renamed PAF Academy Asghar Khan, which name sounds a little incoherent and strange. Military Academies all over the world carry the name of the place where they are located, such as PMA Kakul, RMA Sandhurts, USMA Westpoint, USNA Annapolis, IMA Deradoon, RAF College Cranwell, PNA National Defence University Beijing, General Staff Academy, Moscow etal.

The PAF Risalpur was a School to start with, then it became a college, then a university and now an academy. But strangely it has been christened as Asghar Khan academy.  Asghar Khan is no doubt a giant of a name in the  PAF history and must be honoured and commemorated but tagging this great name at the tail of the PAF Academy, somehow doesn’t seem to be in a good taste.  The graduates from the military academies all over the world  introduce themselves with some pride as a graduate from Kakul, Sandhust, Westpoint etc.  What would a graduate of the PAF Academy say that he was a graduate from Asghar Khan?!

 In my considered opinion, PAF Academy should stay as PAF Academy, Risalpur and some important block in the PAF Academy be named after him.  Alternately, if the name has to be retained it could be in the beginning  to read, “Asghar Khan PAF Academy, Risalpur”, which would again be wrong because it is a  NATIONAL academy of the PAF and not of some  individual person.   

Col. Syed Riaz Jafri (Red)