The mortal remains of veteran politician and soldier Air Marshal Asghar Khan (retd) were laid to rest with full military honours in the Nawanshehr graveyard on Saturday. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Marshal Sohail Aman, Naval Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Zubair Mehmood Hayat were among those who attended the funeral.
Subsequently, his mortal remains were brought to Abbottabad via helicopter for burial in the family graveyard in Nawansher with full military honour. Asghar Khan passed away on Friday at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi at the age of 97. According to his son Ali Asghar Khan, his father died due to cardiac arrest at 6:00am at the hospital. He was admitted to the hospital a few days ago owing to a chest infection.
The coffin of Air Marshal Asghar Khan, draped in the green and white national flag was brought in an ambulance. The pall bearers of Pakistan Air Force carried the coffin to the prayers site as a contingent of the PAF presented saluted. A citation was read, floral wreaths were laid and funeral prayers offered.
Asghar Khan is the fifth Pakistani to have had the honour of being accorded a state funeral. Founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, General Zia-ul-Haq, Abdul Sattar Edhi and Dr Ruth Pfau were earlier honoured. The last high profile funerals at the Nur Khan Air Base was held for Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir who was killed in an air crash near Kohat on February 2003.
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