The government on Wednesday promoted Vice Admiral Asif Sandila to the rank of Admiral, who will assume the charge of Pakistan Navy after the retirement of Admiral Noman Bashir. The decision was taken after Sandila met President Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Admiral Noman Bashir is expected to retire on October 8 after completion of his three years tenure as Admiral.

Defence sources said that President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the notification of the Admiral Noman's successor. Initially, the Defence Ministry put forward names of three top naval officers and it was the choice of President to name the new naval chief.

The top on the seniority list was Vice Admiral Asif Sindhila, currently working as Chief of Staff and was No 2 in the navy. Vice Admiral Tanvir Faiz, Principal Staff Officer with the designation of deputy chief of naval staff dealing with projects, was second on the seniority list of top naval officers. The third was Vice Admiral Abbas Raza who was Commander Pak Fleet on the seniority list of naval officers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2011