Islamabad: With Pakistan Navy chief Admiral
Noman Bashir due to retire next month, President Asif Ali
Zardari is set to announce his successor and indications are
that the Defence Ministry is in favour of Vice Admiral Abbas
Raza, currently No 3 in seniority.
Noman, who is the brother of Pakistan Foreign Secretary
Salman Bashir, is due to retire on October 7 after completing
the three-year tenure.
"Consultations between the prime minister and the
president have already taken place in this regard," a top
unnamed official in the Prime Minister`s Secretariat was
quoted as saying by `The News` daily.
The Defence Ministry has also put forward a panel of
three top naval officers and it would be the choice of
President to name the new naval chief.
"Hot-favourite" and on top-of-the-seniority-list is Vice
Admiral Asif Sindhila, currently working as Chief of Staff and
No 2 in the navy.
He would replace Noman if the seniority prevails over
other considerations, the daily said.
Vice Admiral Tanvir Faiz, Principal Staff Officer with the
designation of deputy chief of naval staff dealing with
projects, is No 2 on the seniority list of top naval officers.
Vice Admiral Abbas Raza, Commander Pak Fleet is on No 3 in
the seniority list of naval officers.
A senior official in the Defence Ministry told the daily
that the ministry has been favouring Raza to be the next naval
chief.
"It is very obvious because of various reasons which
secretary defence knows well," the official was quoted as
saying.
However it was not explained what the reasons were.
The Navy has in the recent past seen a series of attacks
by Taliban militants including the May terror strike on the
Mehran naval base in Karachi that killed 10 soldiers and
destroyed two US-supplied P3C maritime surveillance aircraft.
PTI
