The title of the article would imply that I was alluding to the emancipation of Pakistan's judiciary and the restoration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other deposed judges; however, the reference is to PAF's new book with the same title. The Pakistan Air Force 1998-2008: A New Dawn was launched by the outgoing Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Tanvir Mahmood Ahmad, a day before he handed the mantle of PAF's command to his successor ACM Rao Qamar Suleman. A New Dawn is the fifth in the series of books on PAF history, the first being History of the Pakistan Air Force 1947-1982 by Syed Shabbir Husain and Squadron Leader M Tariq Qureshi. It was followed by Battle for Pakistan by John Fricker, essentially an account of the 1965 Pak-India War. Not satisfied with the 1947-1982 history, compiled in the era of ACM Anwar Shamim, a new account was commissioned by ACM Jamal A Khan. Thus The Story of the Pakistan Air Force was put together by Air Commodore M Zafar Masood, euphemistically known as "Mitty Masood", covering the era 1947-1988. ACM PQ Mehdi asked Air Marshal Rashid Sheikh to compile The Story of the Pakistan Air Force 1988-1998, which was launched in 2000. A New Dawn has been painstakingly put together by a British photo journalist, Alan Warnes, who is also the editor of Airforces Monthly. Alan had contacted me in December 2000, expressing his keenness to do an ensemble of aerial photos on PAF. Since I was on the verge of retiring, I passed him on to my successor. He visited Pakistan for the first time in May 2001 and his interest culminated in the new PAF History. Providing a broad brush treatment to the early history of PAF, since his canvas is set to commence from 1998, Alan pauses to make an interesting comment regarding Pakistan's first jet fighter the Supermarine Attacker provided on June 1, 1951 by the British: "...the main reason why the jet era came to Pakistan so early was that the Attacker was arguably one of the worst jet fighters ever built and the RAF did not want them" Alan fast forwards to 1998, but the most prominent event of the year, the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan and the role of PAF are given cursory mentions in the book. The outgoing air chief, in his address at the book launching ceremony remarked: "The PAF has been made nuclear for giving it the status of a real deterrent force. We have made the whole of PAF a nuclear force. The PAF has achieved such a deterrence level that no one could cast an evil eye on the motherland," adding that the PAF had achieved nuclear weapons carrying capability a couple of years before 1998. In his second chapter, Bridging the Generation Gap, Alan elucidates ACM Tanvir's philosophy of making PAF a "lean mean fighting machine." He discloses PAF's intended acquisition of 150 JF-17s, 18 F-16C/D Block 52s, 18 F-16A/Bs 4 Saab Erieye AEW aircraft, 4 IL-78 air-to-air refuellers, Falco UAVs, 40 FC-20s and 3 Chinese Yaanxi Y-8 AWACS. In the chapter Training for Combat, the author provides cogent details of the PAF training philosophy and facets of various war-games and exercises, including those with other air forces, supported by breathtaking aerial photographs. Western fighters and Chinese technology form the backbone of PAF. Alan has covered it with due impetus in the book. A nostalgic mention is a whole chapter dedicated to the farewell of Shenyang F-6 in March 2002. The epoch making fighter served the PAF for over three decades and deserved due mention, besides Alan recording that "the F-6 is the only aircraft to ever be involved in a collision with a train" Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra has been provided due credit but the "jewel in the crown" of PAF, the JF-17 Thunder has been afforded praiseworthy citation in the annals titled Victory over Adversity. The erudite author writes: "Embargoes, restrictions on Pakistan's purchasing power and the escalating costs of fighters coupled with a real threat from its neighbours, has forced the Pakistan Air Force into developing its own combat aircraft." The book also contains the famous photograph of ACM Tanvir sitting in the cockpit of a JF-17 at Chengdu on May 1, 2006 displaying "two-fingers" to all those aircraft manufacturers who spurned PAF's requests over the years. A fascinating photograph adorns page 147 (bottom) of PAF's No 6 Squadron L-382B (civilian version of C-130, which was acquired after the embargo by US on defence equipment following the 1965 War), gaily painted to thank the world for its assistance with the humanitarian relief effort in the wake of the earthquake which struck the northern regions of Pakistan in October 2005. The story of Pakistan Air Force is fascinating for any reader but it becomes more interesting when viewed through the prism of an independent unbiased viewer's prism, and in Alan's case, also through the lens of his camera. True to his profession, Alan has created a pictorial history, which tells more stories through the photographs than the text, catering for the current trend of "coffee table" books in an era where people prefer to glance through books rather than expend energy over reading intently. The writer is a political and defence analyst