44 Facts About Yahya Khan

General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, commonly known as Yahya Khan, was a Pakistani army general who served as the third President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator following his predecessor Ayub Khan's resignation from 25 March 1969 until his resignation on 20 December 1971.

Yahya Khan joined the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned to the British Indian Army in 1939.

Yahya Khan served in the Second World War in the Mediterranean theatre against the Axis powers and rose to major military positions in the British infantry division.

Yahya Khan subsequently ordered Operation Searchlight in an effort to suppress Bengali nationalism.

Yahya Khan was central to the perpetration of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.

Yahya Khan remained under house surveillance prior to 1979 when he was released by Fazle Haq.

Yahya Khan died the following year in Rawalpindi and was buried in Peshawar.

Yahya Khan is viewed negatively in both Bangladesh, being considered the chief-architect of the genocide, and in Pakistan.

Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was born in Chakwal, Punjab, British Indian Empire, on 4 February 1917, according to the references written by Russian sources.

Yahya Khan joined as a head constable and retired as a deputy superintendent.

Yahya Khan was commissioned into the British Indian Army from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun in 1939.

Yahya Khan served in World War II as a lieutenant and later captain in the 4th Infantry Division.

Yahya Khan was a POW in Italy before returning to India.

Yahya Khan renamed the 'Command and Staff College' from 'Army Staff College'.

Yahya Khan was described as a "hard drinking soldier" who liked young women's company and wine, though he was a meritorious and professional soldier.

Yahya Khan performed the duties of Chief of General Staff from 1958 to 1962 from where he went on to command two infantry divisions from 1962 to 1965.

Yahya Khan played a pivotal role in sustaining the support for President Ayub Khan's campaign in the 1965 presidential elections against Fatima Jinnah.

Yahya Khan was made GOC of 7th Infantry Division of Pakistan Army, which he commanded during the 1965 war with India.

Yahya Khan was appointed in the GHQ, Pakistan as the chief of staff of the army.

Yahya Khan was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army in September 1966 after getting promoted to lieutenant general and took command in 18th day of the month when President Ayub promoted him to full general.

At promotion, Yahya Khan superseded two of his seniors: Lieutenant-General Altaf Qadir and Lieutenant-General Bakhtiar Rana.

President Ayub Yahya Khan tried to quell the revolt by making concessions to the opposition, but demonstrations continued.

When Yahya Khan assumed the office on 25 March 1969, he inherited a two-decade constitutional problem of inter-provincial ethnic rivalry between the Punjabi-Pashtun-Mohajir dominated West Pakistan and the ethnically-Bengali Muslim East Pakistan.

The tragedy of the whole affair was the fact that all of the actions that Yahya Khan took were correct in principle but too late and served only to further intensify the political polarization between the East and West wings:.

Yahya Khan made an attempt to accommodate the East Pakistanis by abolishing the principle of parity in the hope that a greater share in the assembly would redress their wounded ethnic regional pride and ensure the integrity of Pakistan.

In 1968, the political pressure exerted by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had weakened President Ayub Yahya Khan, who had sacked Bhutto for disagreeing with Ayub's decision to implement on Tashkent Agreement, facilitated by the Soviet Union to end the hostilities with India.

Yahya Khan was well aware of this explosive situation and decided to bring changes all over the country.

In 1969, President Yahya Khan promulgated the Legal Framework Order No 1970, which disestablished the One Unit programme, which had formed West Pakistan.

On 25 March 1971, Yahya Khan initiated Operation Searchlight, a genocidal crackdown to suppress Bengali dissent.

General Yahya Khan arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on charges of sedition and appointed Brigadier Rahimuddin Khan to preside over a special tribunal dealing with Mujib's case.

Rahimuddin awarded Mujib the death sentence, and President Yahya Khan put the verdict into abeyance.

Yahya Khan's crackdown had led to the Bangladesh Liberation War within Pakistan, with India being drawn into the war, India fighting on behalf of the Bangladeshis against Pakistan, a war which would later extend into the Indo-Pak war of 1971.

Yahya Khan's objective was to prevent a war and safeguard Pakistan's interests, though he feared an Indian invasion of Pakistan that would lead to Indian domination of the subcontinent and strengthen the position of the Soviet Union.

Similarly, President Yahya Khan feared that an independent Bangladesh could lead to the disintegration of Pakistan.

Yahya Khan assured him that she didn't want war with Pakistan, but he did not believe her.

On 3 December 1971, Yahya Khan preemptively attacked the Indian Air Force and Gandhi retaliated, pushing into East Pakistan.

Rumors of an impending coup d'etat by junior military officers against President Yahya Khan swept the country.

Yahya Khan is said to have had a relationship with Akleem Akhtar but he was never married.

Yahya Khan was nominally a Shia Muslim, but was non-practising and was known to have indulged in activities prohibited in Islam such as womanizing and the consumption of alcohol.

Yahya Khan had a brief relationship with Bengali woman called Mrs Shamim, known as Black Pearl.

Yahya Khan remained under house arrest until 1979, when he was released from custody by martial law administrator General Fazle Haq.

Yahya Khan stayed out from public events and died on 10 August 1980 in Rawalpindi, Punjab and was interred at Circle road graveyard Peshawar, Pakistan.

Yahya Khan is viewed largely negatively by Pakistani historians and is considered among the least successful of the country's leaders.

Yahya Khan's rule is widely regarded as the leading cause of the breakup of Pakistan.