Khademul Bashar

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Khademul Bashar, BU, psc (1 September 1935 – 1 September 1976) was a senior Bangladeshi air officer who became Chief of Air Staff of the Bangladesh Air Force in 1976. He also served as Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator and headed the Ministry of Petroleum, the Ministry of Food and Civil Aviation, and the Department of Tourism for a time.

Early life and career
Bashar was born in Bogra, then part of British India. He studied at Satkhira Prananath High School and Rajshahi College. He joined the Pakistan Air Force as a flight cadet in 1954 and was commissioned as a pilot in 1956. He served in various squadrons and roles, including as flight safety officer at Dhaka Air Base. He commanded No. 8 Squadron and No. 406 Squadron and was promoted to wing commander in 1970. He earned the Tamgha-i-Basalat for his service in the 1965 war.

1971 Liberation War
In May 1971, Bashar defected to India and joined the Mukti Bahini as Sector 6 commander. He was one of only two East Pakistani air force officers involved in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Post-independence
After Bangladesh gained independence, Bashar was promoted to group captain in February 1972. He helped establish the 72nd Independent Infantry Brigade as deputy to Colonel Chitta Ranjan Dutta, then served as air officer commanding BAF Base Tejgaon. In October 1973 he was promoted to air commodore and returned to the newly formed Air Headquarters as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations and Training) and Provost Marshal. He was promoted to air vice marshal and became Chief of Air Staff on 1 May 1976. During his brief tenure, he opened the first two Shenyang J-6 squadrons (No. 5 and No. 8) for the Bangladesh Air Force.

Death and legacy
Bashar died in a plane crash on 1 September 1976 while attending the inauguration of the Flying Instructors School at Tejgaon, Dhaka. The aircraft—a NZAI Air Tourer—crashed on its maiden flight; the pilot, Mofizul Haq, also died. The Bangladesh Air Force base at Tejgaon was renamed Base Bashar in his honour.