A. W. Bhombal

Rear-Admiral Abdul Waheed Bhombal (13 October 1931—31 December 2008), SI(m), best known as A.W. Bhombal was a two-star rank admiral in the Pakistan Navy and the chairman of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation from 1980 until retiring from his military service in 1986.

Biography
Abdul Waheed Bhombal was born Karachi, Sind and Bombay Residency in India, on 13 October 1931. He was of the Konkani descent and his father, E.S.B. Bhombal was an officer in the Pakistan Navy after being transferred from the Royal Indian Navy on 14/15 August 1947. E.S.B. Bhombal later enjoyed a distinguish career as a bureaucrat with the federal government and eventually becoming the chairman of the Karachi Port Trust and later the Pakistan Merchant Navy.

He enlisted in the Navy in 1949, and was trained in the England before participating in the second war with India in 1965.

In 1971, Cdre. Bhombal volunteered to join the Naval Aviation, boarded on the civilian PIA's Fokker F27F aircraft after the first missile attack in the Port of Karachi. While conducting the maritime reconnaissance in the west of the Cape Monze, Cdre. Bhombal reportedly gave the clearance when he authorized to sent the military signal to the Faisal Air Force Base in Karachi where the F-86 jets were scrambled, and leading an attack on a presumed missile boat that was later identified as the PNS Zulfiqar (K265)— the large River-class frigate.

After the third war with India in 1971, the Air Force held the Navy responsible for the friendly fire incident took place on the PNS Zulfiqar (K265), and identified Cdre. A. W. Bhombal as a responsible for giving clearance to the Air Force, which had little experience in conducting the maritime reconnaissance, for attacking his own warship. In 1972, the Navy reportedly accepted the Air Force's recommendation and took the disciplinary action when he was reportedly demoted from his one-star rank to Captain, and was directed to attend the War studies, earning his MSc in War studies in 1973, graduating in the class of 1973 alongside with then-Lieutenant-Colonel Mirza Aslam Beg.

After his graduation in 1973, Capt. Bhombal joined the faculty staff of the Naval War College in Lahore as a professor of war studies, later appointed as commandant of the staff college— the Naval War College in Lahore.

In 1977, Capt. Bhombal was promoted to the one-star rank, Commodore, posted as the General-Manager at the Karachi Port Trust (GM KPT). In 1980, Cdre. Bhombal was promoted to two-star rank, Rear-Admiral, subsequently posted as the Chairman of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) on 4 December 1980. R-Adm. Bhombal chaired the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation for six years, eventually retiring on 11 January 1986, and his tenureship was regarded as successfully as the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation turned into a profitable state corporation. In 1980, R-Adm. Bhombal was appointed as the President of the Pakistan Squash Federation, and oversaw the first Pakistan Open in 1980 in Karachi, and remained the President of the Pakistan Squash Federation until 1986.

After his retirement, he settled in Karachi, Sindh in Pakistan but was involved in an incident when the group of Dacoit held on gun point in his car while making the monetary transaction from the bank in 1988. After this incident, he reportedly moved to Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan where he remained his remainder of life, passing away on 31 December 2008 in Peshawar,  Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.