1. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was a Pakistani general who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971.
56 Facts About Yahya Khan
1. 2.
Yahya Khan served as the fifth commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from 1966 to 1971.
3.
Yahya Khan's presidency oversaw martial law by suspending the constitution in 1969.
4.
On 25 March 1971, Yahya Khan ordered Operation Searchlight in an effort to suppress Bengali nationalism, which led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.
5.
The wars resulted in the surrender of Pakistani forces and East Pakistan succeeded as Bangladesh, after which Yahya Khan resigned from the army command and transferred the presidency to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
6.
Yahya Khan remained under house surveillance prior to 1979 when he was released by Fazle Haq.
7.
Yahya Khan died the following year in Rawalpindi and was buried in Peshawar.
8.
Yahya Khan is viewed negatively in both Bangladesh, where he is seen as the architect of the genocide, and Pakistan, where his failure to prevent the country's disintegration is considered a national tragedy.
9.
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was born on 4 February 1917 in the town of Chakwal, Punjab, British India.
10.
Yahya Khan's family were written to be of Pashtun as well as Qizilbash origin and were descended from the elite soldiers of Iranian conqueror Nader Shah.
11.
Yahya Khan joined as a head constable and retired as a deputy superintendent.
12.
Yahya Khan was posted in Chakwal, Punjab, British India, when Yahya Khan was born.
13.
Yahya Khan was commissioned into the British Indian Army from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on 15 July 1939, his date of commission was later antedated to 28 August 1938.
14.
Yahya Khan served in World War II as a lieutenant and later captain in the 4th Infantry Division.
15.
Yahya Khan renamed the 'Command and Staff College' from 'Army Staff College'.
16.
Yahya Khan performed the duties of Chief of General Staff from 1957 to 1962 from where he went on to command two infantry divisions from 1962 to 1965.
17.
Yahya Khan played a pivotal role in sustaining the support for President Ayub Khan's campaign in the 1965 presidential elections against Fatima Jinnah.
18.
Yahya Khan was made GOC of the 7th Infantry Division of the Pakistan Army, which he commanded during the 1965 war with India.
19.
Yahya Khan became Pakistan Army's C-in-C on 27 October 1966 when General Mohammad Musa went on retirement.
20.
When Yahya Khan became the C-in-C, he superseded two of his seniors: Lieutenant-General Altaf Qadir and Lieutenant-General Bakhtiar Rana.
21.
Ayub Yahya Khan tried to quell the revolt by making concessions to opposition groups including the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Awami League, but demonstrations continued.
22.
On 26 March 1969, General Yahya Khan appeared on national television and announced a state of martial law throughout the entirety of the country.
23.
Once in office, Yahya Khan was tasked with leading the country, drafting of a provisional constitution, resolving the One Unit question, and satisfying the frustrations and the sense of exploitation stirring in the "East Wing" by government policies since 1948.
24.
Yahya Khan attempted to solve Pakistan's constitutional and inter-provincial rivalry problems once he took over power from Ayub Khan in March 1969.
25.
However, Yahya Khan rejected the idea saying it would not bring them solution.
26.
In 1969, President Yahya Khan promulgated the Legal Framework Order, 1970, which disestablished the One Unit Scheme that had formed West Pakistan and returned the provinces of West Pakistan to their pre-1955 configuration.
27.
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.
28.
On 25 March 1971, Yahya Khan initiated Operation Searchlight, a crackdown by the Pakistan Armed Forces to suppress Bangali rebellion and the Bengali nationalist movement.
29.
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.
30.
Rahimuddin gave Mujib the death sentence, but President Yahya Khan put the verdict into abeyance.
31.
Yahya Khan's crackdown had led to the Bangladesh Liberation War within Pakistan.
32.
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.
33.
Similarly, President Yahya Khan feared that an independent Bangladesh could lead to the disintegration of Pakistan, and said publicly in August 1971 that Indian military support for Bengali guerrillas could lead to war between India and Pakistan.
34.
Yahya Khan assured him that she didn't want war with Pakistan, but he did not believe her.
35.
On 21 November Indian army start incursions on East Pakistan in the response of this on 3 December 1971, Yahya Khan preemptively attacked the Indian Air Force and Gandhi retaliated, pushing into East Pakistan.
36.
Rumors of an impending coup d'etat by junior military officers against President Yahya Khan swept the country.
37.
Yahya Khan became the highest-ranking official in what remained of Pakistan to be forced out due to the war.
38.
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 alcoholic beverages.
39.
Yahya Khan is said to have had a relationship with Akleem Akhtar, nicknamed General Rani, but they never married.
40.
Yahya Khan's name was linked with the singer and actress Noor Jehan as well.
41.
Yahya Khan had a brief relationship with a Bengali woman called Shamim K Hussain, known as Black Beauty.
42.
The wife of a police officer, Yahya Khan appreciated her company not so much for her looks but mainly because she was fluent in English and could talk about Shakespeare and Lord Byron, among his favourite poets, and she eventually became influential enough to shape the decisions of the foreign office.
43.
Yahya's older brother Agha Muhammad Ali Khan had been the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau.
44.
Yahya Khan's nephew Ahmed Ali was a Major who served as Yahya's aide-de-camp from 1966 to 1969.
45.
However, Yahya Khan had a keen interest in poetry, particularly the works of Shakespeare and Lord Byron.
46.
Yahya Khan often engaged in discussions about these poets, especially appreciating conversations with individuals fluent in English who could converse on such literary topics.
47.
Yahya Khan was placed under house arrest by the succeeding administration of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
48.
On January 11,1972, Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman sent a letter to Yahya Khan, informing him that the commission would commence its proceedings on January 17 and requesting his statement by January 24.
49.
Yahya Khan's health had significantly deteriorated during his years in house arrest.
50.
Yahya Khan was suffering from a combination of serious medical conditions, including diabetes, a heart condition, and reports suggest that his mental health was affected as well.
51.
Yahya Khan remained under house arrest until 1977, when he was released from custody by martial law administrator General Fazle Haq due to his failing health.
52.
Yahya Khan stayed out from public events and wrote down his memoirs in the form of notes that remain unpublished.
53.
Yahya Khan died from a stroke on 10 August 1980 in Rawalpindi, Punjab.
54.
The funeral was held in Peshawar, where Yahya Khan was laid to rest at Circle Road Graveyard.
55.
Yahya Khan is viewed largely negatively by Pakistani historians and is considered among the worst but one of the most misunderstood of the country's leaders.
56.
Yahya Khan's rule is widely regarded as one of the leading causes of the fall of Dhaka and the breakup of Pakistan, but not entirely of his own making.