Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Shahid Bashir is a

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and aviator who is facing court martial by the Judge Advocate General Branch of

. Bashir is accused of spying, including leaking secrets of the Shamsi Air base to those planning to attack it, and inciting fellow soldiers to commit acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

against US army occupying these basis. On December 10, 2009, Colonel Bashir along with his close friends, was arrested by the Pakistani military police. Advocate ex PAF cadet Nadeem Ahmad Shah, a retired

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

and a former professional JAG lawyer who is now a practiced civilian advocate at the Lahore High Court, and Awais Ali Khan, a civilian mechanical engineer served with the military's Air Weapons Complex (AWC) but resigned two years ago. According to the media reports, the three men are in army's custody in

Kotli Kotli ( ur}) is a city in Kotli District of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. It lies on the Poonch River, and the river contains several notable waterfalls including the Lala Waterfall near the town of Kotli and the Gulpur Waterfalls at the village of ...

, district of

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

but there was no official word on allegations levelled against them. 22-Jun-2011 RAWALPINDI: A former senior army officer charged with links to banned organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir has moved the Lahore High Court against a decision of the Field General Court Martial (FGCM). The convicted lieutenant colonel Shahid Bashir – presently serving his sentence in solitary confinement in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail – says he has been victimised for raising voice against corruption in his department. The petitioner challenged the verdict of FGCM that handed down three-year rigorous imprisonment coupled with dismissal from service. He asked the high court on Tuesday to set aside the military court's decision and direct the provincial authorities to end his solitary confinement.

Military career

Bashir was a closed friend of Nadeem Ahmed Advocate, he started his education with Nadeem Ahmed Advocate, and later Bashir was commissioned in the army in 1984 and is a graduate of Military College of Signals,

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

where he gained his

B.Eng. A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

Electronics and Communication Engineering Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current fl ...

with a specialization in electronic signals technology from the College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. After his degree, he was inducted in Corps of Engineers as a

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in 1986. In 1990, Shahid was transferred to Army Aviation Corps where he did a one-year-long aviation course, was inducted into the Army Aviation Corps as an Aviation Pilot of PA-AH-1 Cobra. In 1996, he was transferred to the '' Pakistan Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering'' where he started his engineering career from Air Weapons Complex. At AWC, he met with Awais Ali Khan, a U.S. educated-mechanical engineer who expertise in drs given a charge of one

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of the Pakistan Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and was posted as a commanding officer at the Shamsi Air Force Base. The Shamsi Air Force Base is a Pakistan Air Force's secret air base allegedly use by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

for Predator drone attacks on militants in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Arrest

May 4, 2009, Colonel Bashir and his close friends Sq. Ldr. Nadeem Ahmad Shah and Awais Ali Khan left their houses to have a dinner to a nearby

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

but they could not reach their destination and mysteriously disappeared. It was later discovered that the three men were arrested by the Pakistani military police, and are investigated by the

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

. On Wednesday, May 13, 2009,

Federal Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

for Law,

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, and Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan informed

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

''that the army has detained a serving colonel along with a Rawalpindi based lawyer on the basis of espionage charges''. However, during the press conference, the minister did not speak about the charges in details.

Investigation

In December 2009, the Pakistan Armed Forces military information office, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) held a press conference to provide the details. The ISPR's

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

and Chief military spokesman Major-General

Athar Abbas Major General Athar Abbas is a former Director General of the ISPR and former Ambassador of Pakistan to Ukraine from 2015 to 2018. He retired from active military service after 35 years in June 2012. Military career General Abbas was commiss ...

said he was aware that some persons were being investigated for spying but he did not have any knowledge about the court-martial. According to the M.I. military investigators, Colonel Bashir had contacts to the terrorist group and the Army investigators have probed his alleged links to the

Hizb ut-Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...

group.

Court-Martial

According to details of the charges provided to the families of the three men, Colonel Shahid Bashir and his close friends has been charged with leaking secrets of Shamsi airbase to persons who were planning to attack the facility. According to the sources, the three men are in army's custody in

, district of

but there was no official word on allegations levelled against them. BBC quoted its sources as saying that they had been accused of leaking secrets about the Pakistan Air Force base at Shamsi in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

and inciting army officers to commit acts of terrorism. The court-martial is conducted by the JAG court headed by the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

under the provisions of the Army Act. Under the military justice law of Pakistani Armed Forces, if the accused are convicted, the colonel could be given the death sentence with a dishonorable discharged while the others could receive a life-sentence in military jails.

Notes

External links

Nadeem Ahmed Advocate Bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashir, Shahid Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Pakistani military engineers Pakistan Army officers Pakistan Army personnel who were court-martialed