Noman Bashir

Early life and education After attending and securing his matriculation from the Army Burn Hall College in Abbottabad, Bashir was accepted to attend the Pakistan Naval Academy in 1971. He passed out in 1973, and gained commissioned as S-Lt. in the Naval Operations Branch. His brother, Salman Bashir, is a diplomat and former Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After his combat pilot's training, Bashir was directed to attend the National Defence University in Islamabad where he studied at the Armed Forces War College (afwc). 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 "Afghan Taliban|[A]fghan Taliban are inward rather than outward looking" and "they have also signalled readiness to engage constructively with the international community." ==Career in the military==

War and staff appointments in the Pakistan Navy In 1971, Bashir served in the western front of the third war with India as a naval aviator, flying the army aviation's H-13 boarded on a warship, before joining the Pakistan Naval Academy in Karachi. In 1999, Capt. Bashir was appointed to direct the inquiry board to investigate the probable cause of the Atlantique shootdown by the Indian Air Force, and later investigating the accident involving the P-3C Orion in 1999. In 2000s, Cdre. Bashir briefly served as the Cdre-in-Charge of the Jinnah Naval Base in Balochistan, and later serving as the Commodore Training Ashore under the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) in Karachi. In 2004, R-Adm. Bashir was appointed as the Director-General of the Naval Intelligence (DGNI) which he directed the military intelligence until he was appointed as Commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces–Middle East in Oman in 2005. Upon returning from deputation in 2006, R-Adm. Bashir was taken as secondment and directed as general manager at the Karachi Port Trust, and later posted as the DCNS (Projects-II) at the Navy NHQ in Islamabad until 2007. On 22 July 2007, Vice-Admiral Bashir became a senior fleet commander when he took over the command as the Commander Pakistan Fleet, and left the command on when he handed over the command to then-R-Adm. Shahid Iqbal on 20 June 2008. On 20 June 2008, V-Adm. Bashir was appointed to command the Karachi coast as its Commander Karachi (COMKAR), which is responsible for entire naval combat units in Sindh and Balochistan. ==Chief of Naval Staff==

Upon the retirement of Adm. Afzal Tahir being confirmed, Vice-Adm. Noman Bashir was in the race of the promotion to four-star rank alongside with four senior navy admirals included with seniority: • V-Adm. Asaf Humayun, senior fleet commander of Pakistan Fleet based in Karachi. It was reported that then-Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar had recommended Adm. Noman's name over V-Adm. Humayun to be elevated at the four-star rank. 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. Indo-Pakistani standoff in 2008 Admiral Gary Roughead. Only a month of assuming his role as Chief of Naval Staff, Adm. Bashir faced the major crises with neighboring India after the deadly attacks were perpetuated in Mumbai in November 2008. In a pressing briefing at the ISPR, Adm. Bashir maintained that: "We have no evidence whatsoever that Ajmal Kasab|[Ajmal Kasab] had gone to India from Pakistani 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. Adm. 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." Pakistan is a "recognized nuclear power" and if the government made a decision, the nation would develop a naval variant nuclear weapon. In 2010, Bashir noted that "the Indian Navy wants to increase military might in the region." PNS Mehran attack Admiral Noman Bashir was the chief of naval staff when Al Qaeda attacked PNS Mehran, a Pakistan Naval Air Station in retaliation for the killing of Osama Bin Ladin. Despite being Naval chief at the breach of the insurgency in the country his command failed to intercept the threat of an attack on a sensitive installation of the Pakistan Naval Air Arm, the failure of which lead to a day long siege of the base in the middle of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. Admiral Bashir was widely criticized for not properly protecting the naval base from being attacked by group of terrorists or moving quickly enough to organise the defence of the base and the operation to take it back, leading to PNS Mehran being over-run by terrorists for nearly an entire day. ==Retirement==

Noman Bashir retired with the pall of the PNS Mehran attack on his head. He rejected the accusations of security breach in the media. On 20 June 2011, Bashir submitted a 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 term, Bashir supervised and personally gave commissioned of navy's first UAV squadron in Karachi. 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 included with seniority: • Adm. Noman Bashir, Chief of Naval Staff headquartered Navy NHQ in Islamabad. • Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Army Staff headquartered in Army GHQ in Rawalpindi. • Lt-Gen. K. Shameem Wynne, the Chief of General Staff headquartered in Army GHQ in Rawalpindi. The eventual pick was the most-junior Army's general, Lt-Gen. Khalid Shameem Wynne, for the chairman joint chiefs appointment. 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 become 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. ==Awards and decorations==