Noman Bashir

Admiral Noman Bashir, (Urdu: نعمان بشير; NI(M), TI(MI, SI(M), HI(M), LM) is a retired four-star rank Admiral who served as the 18th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) from 7 October 2008 until 7 October 2011.

A distinguished and one of the most-decorated officer in the Pakistan Armed Forces, his appointment was approved by President Asif Ali Zardari on 5 October 2008 upon the retirement of Admiral Afzal Tahir. His appointment was recommended by the Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar after his and the then Chief of Staff (COS) Vice-Admiral Asaf Humayun's names were sent to the President. As Humayun was senior to Bashir, the former was superseded. Later however, Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun was appointed as the Vice Chief of Naval Staff (VCNS) on 31 October 2008.

His brother, Salman Bashir, is also an academic and former Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He earned public fame and international recognition for commanding successful military operations on war on terror, and commanded all combatant naval assets in the war in north-western contingent of Pakistan.

Early life and education
After graduating from the local high school in Karachi, Noman Bashir applied and attended the Pakistan Naval Academy and graduated with a Bachelor's degree from there. Bashir gained commissioned as Sub-lieutenant in naval operations branch of Pakistan Navy in June 1973. After completing combat sea training, he served on board various ships and then joined the naval aviation to be graduated as a helicopter pilot. He has commanded two aviation squadrons, two ships (frigate and corvette) and the Naval Aviation.

Academia and professorship
After his sea training, Bashir continued with his studies and forwarded his post-graduate studies at the National Defence University in Islamabad and studied Joint warfare at the Armed Forces War College (afwc). He earned master of science in War studies and briefly tenured the professorship at the Armed Forces War College (afwc) where he taught courses on strategic studies. Bashir later forwarded his post-graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Bashir attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in United Kingdom where he attained master's degree in geo-strategic studies.

At RCDS, his master's thesis, "Afghanistan and the 'New Great Game" was shortlisted in the Seaford House Papers 2000. In it he defended his claims that the "[A]fghan Taliban are inward rather than outward looking" and "they have also signalled readiness to engage constructively with the international community." Moreover, he says that "keeping Afghanistan broken and destabilized suits those who do not want the Caspian/Central Asian oil and gas pipelines to take one of the shortest and economical outlets over Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea."

Navy career
Bashir served in the Naval aviation and is a career naval aviator, having commanded the two combat navy's aviation squadrons. His combat assignment including the command of the two combat ships; a frigate and a corvette. He also held the command of the naval aviation and later moved his career in the directorate-general of Naval Intelligence (DGNI). Upon his promotion to Commodore, a one-star rank, he served as the base commander of the Jinnah Naval Base (JNB) in Balochistan Province. He also served as the Commodore Training Ashore (CTA) before being promoted to Rear-Admiral rank.

Senior staff and combat appointments
Bashir was promoted to Rear-Admiral on 4 July 2003 when he was serving as the Commander of Naval Aviation. His two star appointment was the directorship of naval intelligence (DGNI). The appointment was short-lived and was sent on deputation where he was the Senior Pakistan Armed Forces Officer (SPAFO) of Pakistan Military-Middle East Contingent in Oman as well as Naval attache in the Pakistan Embassy, Oman.

Upon returning from deputation, he was appointed as General Manager of Karachi Port Trust (GM Port) and later appointed as DCNS of Military Projects in Pakistan Navy. His other staff appointments were at the NHQ and was elevated as the ACNS of Naval operation training. At NHQ, he also served as the ACNS of Naval Operations and DCNS of Projects-II. In 2007, he was promoted as Vice-Admiral and subsequently became the senior fleet commander of Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) and later forwarded for the commander of Karachi's naval assets as its senior commander, COMKAR.

Chief of Naval Staff
Bashir was promoted to three-star rank, Vice-Admiral, on 19 July 2007 while serving as the commander of the Pakistan fleet. His last three-star appointment was the senior fleet commander of Karachi contingent as commander Karachi (COMKAR), from where he was elevated to the post of Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) on 5 October 2008. In the race of four-star admiral promotion, Vice-Admiral Asaf Humayun and Vice-Admiral Noman Bashir's names were forwarded to the President Asif Zardari.

Admiral Humayun was senior to Admiral Bashir, however, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar recommended the name of Bashir to be elevated to the four-star rank. Admiral Asaf Humayun was superseded. After Admiral Bashir became chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun was appointed as the Vice Chief of Naval Staff (VCNS) on 31 October 2008.

After assuming the command, Admiral Bashir thanked the president for the appointment and recognized the role of Navy facing the multiple challenges in the realm of maritime security due to the presence of various powers in Pakistan's area of interest. Talking to the media, Bashir vowed that Navy to rise to the occasion to safeguard the national interests at any cost.

2008 India-Pakistan standoff
Only a month of assuming the command of the navy in October 2008, Bashir faced the major crises with neighboring India after the deadly attacks were perpetuated in Mumbai on November 2008. Bashir high-alerted the navy and deployed the combantant assets of the navy to protect the naval vicinity of Sindh and Balochistan Province. Initially, Bashir denied that the terrorists who attacked the city had not used the sea route from Pakistan to reach the city. In a pressing briefing at the ISPR, Bashir maintained that: "We have no evidence whatsoever that [Ajmal Kasab] had gone to India from Pakistani territorial waters. The Indian Navy is much larger than ours, and if Ajmal Kasab had gone from here, then what were their Coast Guards doing, and why did they did not stop the terrorists." His statement was widely criticized by Indian government and Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony strongly rebutted his statement.

However after a day of releasing his statement, Bashir retraced his statement and reiterated that "whatever evidence [Indians] have is correct." Bashir strongly criticized Indian army chief General Deepak Kapoor's statement about simultaneous war with China and Pakistan. Talking to the AAJ TV, Admiral Bashir quoted that :"Indian generals are well aware of our strength." He maintained to the television correspondents that he does not take Indian army chief General Deepak Kapoor's statement seriously as he "knows about the strength of his neighboring countries, Pakistan and China."

In 2008, in an interview to a Daily Pakistan, the Admiral Noman Bashir, had told his interviewer that "Pakistan was quite capable of building a nuclear submarine and would do so "if required". Pakistan is a "recognized nuclear power" and if the government made a decision, the nation would develop a naval variant nuclear weapon. During this time, he began pushed and lobbied for building the nuclear submarine and finally, on February 2012, the government gave green signals and authorised the development of the nation's first nuclear submarine after releasing the funds. In 2010, Bashir noted that "the Indian Navy wants to increase military might in the region."

War on Terror
Admiral Noman Bashir was the chief of naval staff at the breach of the insurgency in the country and diversified the role of navy's capabilities to conduct difficult ground operations against the terrorism. He commanded and coordinated the navy-army operations in north-western contingent of the country and expanded the role of navy on wide range of its operational capacity. Major deployments of navy was made under Admiral Bashir in all over the country to curbed the terrorism. Admiral Bashir earned public notability and public appraise after successfully executing the cross-border operation to evacuated the Pakistani nationals from Somalia. This cross border operation was conducted by Navy alone; and Admiral Bashir personally supervised the execution of the operation.

Admiral Bashir was widely criticized by media for not properly protecting the naval base from being attacked by group of terrorists. However, Admiral Bashir rejected the accusations of security breach on media. On 20 June 2011, Bashir submitted the report over the course of action to the Prime minister and briefed the Prime minister about the security arrangements which had been put in place following the attack on the naval base. During the last days of his terms, Bashir supervised and personally gave commissioned of navy's first UAV squadron in Karachi.

Retirement
Upon his retirement in 2011, Admiral Bashir was considered to be on the "short list" of choices for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee; the eventual pick was Army General Khalid Shameem Wynne.

Earlier, the Pakistan government had sent the proposal to appoint General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as the additional office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, but instead Kayani received the extension. However, the Pakistani media then reported since Admiral Bashir is the most senior officer, Admiral Bashir would likely to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

In the line of promotion, General Khalid Shameem Wynne was the most-general in the Pakistan Army, as his chances to became Chief of Army Staff was diminished. On the advice of General Kayani, General Khalid Shameem Wynne was promoted to four-star rank and assumed the Chairmanship of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.