Noman Bashir (Urdu: نعمان بشير) was a Pakistan Navy admiral who served as the 18th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) from 7 October 2008 until retiring on 7 October 2011.
His appointment as Chief of Naval Staff was approved by President Asif Ali Zardari on the recommendation of Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar on 5 October 2008, ultimately superseding the senior most, Vice-Admiral Asaf Humayun, to the four-star promotion.
In 2011, Adm. Bashir was notably superseded and overlooked for the appointment of Chairman joint chiefs when the junior-most officer, Lt-Gen. K. Shameem Wynne, was eventually selected despite coming short of his qualifications.
Admiral Bashir came under widespread criticism for failing to stop the siege of the Pakistan Naval air station PNS Mehran in time, which lead to the deaths of sailors, officers, destruction of Naval aircraft and damage to the base.
Biography
Early life and education
After attending and securing his matriculation from the Army Burn Hall College in Abottabad, 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. He was further trained at the Air Force Academy as a naval aviator, and joined the Naval Aviation as a combat helicopter pilot in 1975, and later qualified to fly the P3C Orion and various other aircraft in 1990s.
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). He graduated with MSc in War studies and briefly tenured the professorship at the Armed Forces War College (afwc) where he taught courses on topics involving the Strategic studies. He was later sent to the United Kingdom to attend the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) where he focused towards the geo-strategic studies, eventually graduating with master's degree.
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 argued 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."
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. A career naval aviator, Bashir commanded the two navy's combat aviation squadron before commanding the two warships: a Tariq-class frigate and a corvette. In 1995, Captain Bashir commanded the PNS Tariq, paying a visit to Singapore where he was joined by the RSS Valiant for bilateral exercise.
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 2003, Cdre. Bashir took over the command of the Naval Air Arm as Commander Naval Aviation (COMNAV), eventually promoted to the star-rank rank admiral in the Navy.
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 19 July 2007, R-Adm. Bashir was elevated to the three-star rank in the Navy while serving in the Navy NHQ as DCNS (Projects-II). 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.