Yahya Khan

Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980) was a Pakistani four-star rank general who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, under martial law. His presidency oversaw a civil war in East Pakistan, resulting in Bangladesh's secession. He also served as the fifth commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from 1966 to 1971.

Khan was commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1939 and fought in the Second World War in the Mediterranean theatre. Following the partition of British India, he joined the Pakistan Army and was placed in charge of organising the Staff College in Quetta. In 1965, he played a vital role in executing Operation Grand Slam in Indian-administered Kashmir during the second Indo-Pakistani war and was assigned to assume the command of the army in September 1966 by President Ayub Khan. In the wake of nationwide protests against Ayub Khan's government, he resigned from the presidency and transferred authority to Yahya Khan in March 1969.

Upon taking over the presidency, Khan declared martial law and suspended the constitution. He issued the Legal Framework Order in July 1970 and held the country's first general election in December 1970, with which the Awami League from East Pakistan emerged victorious with a national majority. He barred power transition to the party's leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leading to mass protests and civil disobedience in the east and a call for sovereignty. On 25 March 1971, Khan ordered Operation Searchlight in an effort to suppress Bengali nationalism which initiated a genocide; and led to the declaration of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and start of a civil war in the east. He is considered a chief architect of the Bangladesh genocide along with his deputies Abdul Hamid Khan and Tikka Khan. In December 1971, Khan ordered pre-emptive strikes against the Mukti Bahini-allied Indian Army, resulting in another war with India. The two simultaneous wars resulted in the surrender of Pakistani forces in the east and Bangladesh's secession, after which Yahya Khan resigned from the army command and transferred the presidency to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Khan remained under house surveillance prior to 1979 when he was released by Fazle Haq. Khan died the following year in Rawalpindi and was buried in Peshawar.