Latif returned to India in June 1965 and appointed the first Air Defence Controller of the Eastern Air Command in Shillong. He served in this appointment during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. In June 1966, he took over as the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of the Eastern Air Command. After a year-long tenure as SASO, he was selected to attend the National Defence College (NDC) in early 1967. He was promoted to the substantive rank of Air Commodore on 1 April 1967 when he was attending the NDC course. In January 1968, he took over as the Air Officer Commanding Jammu and Kashmir at Udhampur Air Force Station where he served a very short stint. In March, he took over as Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Lohegaon in Pune. He had a varied inventory of fighters, bombers, four-engined