Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...

Abdul Waheed Bhombal (13 October 1931 – 31 December 2008), , best known as A. W. Bhombal was a two-star rank admiral in the

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...

and the chairman of the

Pakistan National Shipping Corporation The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) is a Pakistani national flag carrier and is one of Government of Pakistan's most profitable state-owned entities, most recently having recorded its highest ever profit of PKR 5.6 billion under the ...

from 1980 until retirement from military service in 1986. Bhombal was disciplined by the Pakistani Navy for his role in the friendly fire sinking of PNS Zulfiqar after the missile attack on the

Port of Karachi The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Karac ...

Biography

Abdul Waheed Bhombal was born on 13 October 1931 in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(in present-day

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

). He was the son of E.S.B. Bhombal and was of Konkani descent. Bhombal enlisted in the

Pakistani Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Qur'an, 3:173'') , type ...

in 1949, and was trained in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

before participating in the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

. In 1971,

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

Bhombal volunteered to join the

Pakistan Naval Aviation The Pakistan Naval Air Arm (unofficially: Pakistan Naval Aviation) is the naval aviation branch within the Pakistan Navy that is responsible for aerial operations from the seaborne platform. The naval aviation branch is responsible for conduct ...

, boarding a civilian PIA's

Fokker F27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Euro ...

aircraft after the first missile attack in the

to conduct

maritime reconnaissance {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

. While in the west of

Cape Monze Ras Muari, often referred to as Cape Monze, is a beach located off the shore of the Arabian Sea in Karachi. It stretches from the village of Mubarak to Yousuf Goth (Pacha) in West Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Geography Ras Muari is part of a 25-kilo ...

, Bhombal reportedly gave the clearance to the Faisal Air Force Base in Karachi to scramble

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing So ...

jets to attack a presumed Indian Navy missile boat that was later identified as the PNS ''Zulfiqar (K265)''— the large ''River''-class frigate. After the

Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...

with India in 1971, the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

held the Navy responsible for the friendly fire incident took place on PNS Zulfiqar, and held Cdre. A. W. Bhombal responsible for giving clearance to the fighter aircraft, when had little experience in conducting the maritime reconnaissance. In 1972, the Navy reportedly accepted the Air Force's recommendation and took the disciplinary action, with Bhombal was reportedly demoted from his one-star rank to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and was directed to attend the

National Defense University The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As ...

. Bhombal earned a

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

in war studies in 1973, graduating alongside

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Mirza Aslam Beg General Mirza Aslam Beg ( ur, ; born 2 August 1931), also known as M. A. Beg, was a Pakistan Army officer, who served as the 3rd Chief of Army Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 1991. His appointment as chief of army staff came when hi ...

. After his graduation in 1973, Capt. Bhombal joined the faculty staff of the

Pakistan Naval War College The Naval War College is a staff college providing training and education primarily to the mid-career officers of the Pakistan Navy as well as to a limited number of officers from Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Army and various allied forces. It ...

in Lahore as a professor of war studies. He was later appointed as commandant of the staff college— the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associat ...

in Lahore. In 1977, Capt. Bhombal was promoted back to the one-star rank, Commodore, and posted as the General-Manager at the

Karachi Port Trust The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) ( ur, ) is a Pakistani federal government agency under the administrative control of the Federal Maritime Secretary that oversees the operations of the Port of Karachi, one of South Asia's largest and busiest de ...

(GM KPT). In 1980, Cdre. Bhombal was promoted to the two-star rank, of Rear-Admiral, and posted as the Chairman of the

(PNSC) on 4 December 1980. R-Adm. Bhombal chaired the PNSC for six years, eventually retiring on 11 January 1986, and his tenureship was regarded as successfully as the PNSC turned into a profitable state corporation. In 1980, Bhombal was appointed as the president of the

Pakistan Squash Federation Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) is the National Sports governing body, governing body for Squash (sport), Squash in Pakistan. The Federation was formed in 1950. Affiliations The Federation is affiliated with: * World Squash Federation * Asian Sq ...

, and oversaw the first Pakistan Open in 1980 in Karachi. He remained the president until 1986. After his retirement, was involved in an incident when a group of

Dacoits Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...

held him on gun point in his car while making a monetary transaction from the bank in 1988. Bhombal died in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, on 31 December 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhombal, A. W. 1931 births 2008 deaths Pakistani people of Konkani descent People from Karachi Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Pakistan Navy admirals Admirals of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 National Defence University, Pakistan alumni Academic staff of Pakistan Naval War College Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz People from Peshawar

Biography

See also

References