Air-Mshl. Pervez Iqbal Mirza – AOC Southern Air Command headquartered in Karachi. Air-Mshl. Riazuddin Shaikh – DCAS (Administration) at AHQ in Islamabad. Air-Mshl. Mushaf Ali Mir – Chairman of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra. Eventually, the race for the appointment for the air chief was rumored between Air Marshal Farooq Qari and Air Marshal Riazuddin. On 13 November 2000, President Rafiq Tarar surprisingly approved the appointment of junior-most Air-Mshl. Mir to be promoted to as the four-star air officer in the air force, and appointed him as the Chief of Air Staff. The surprise promotion and command appointment was said to be at the behest of special and personal requests made by then-Chairman Joint chiefs Gen. Pervez Musharraf. This appointment was one of the center of controversies in the Musharraf administration when superseding air officers had sparked off "rumblings of resentment" at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) in the country. All five superseding air force generals tendered their resignations to President Tarar despite Chairman Joint chiefs Gen. Musharraf's efforts to have all five air force generals to complete their respected terms. In news media, the appointment was also given a strong criticism when the Gen. Musharraf's clique attempted a damage control exercise by pointing out that supersessions were nothing new in the country's military establishment having happened five times in the Air Force and at least four times in the Army. Despite the agitation and criticism, Air Chief Marshal Mir eventually assumed the command of the air force as its chief on 20 November 2000. After the deadly terrorist attacks in New York in the United States in 2001, ACM Mir successfully negotiated with the United States Air Force of releasing the spare parts and updating the software of the F-16s. During his tenure, the PAF's F-6 aircraft were retired from service, and were transferred to Bangladeshi Air Force. During the military standoff with the Indian Army, ACM Mir placed the air force at war level command, issuing orders for targeting the Indian military posts. In spite of his closeness to President Musharraf, ACM Mir had strongly objected and opposed the Musharraf administration's policy on War on Terror, that he suspected of intelligence blowback and terror organizations that might be finding the foreign support for their operations to spread sectarian violence in the country. Death in the air crash On 20 February 2003, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf