Field Marshal Ayub Khan

Field Marshal Ayub Khan was a Pakistani military officer and politician who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army and the first Pakistani to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. He was born in Rehana in 1907 to a wealthy family of landowners. He graduated from the Aligarh Muslim University and trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He fought in the Second World War on the British side against the Imperial Japanese Army. After the partition of India in 1947, he joined the Pakistan Army and was stationed in East Bengal. In 1951, he became the commander-in-chief, succeeding General Douglas Gracey. From 1954 to 1958, he served in the civilian government as Defence and Home Minister and supported president Iskandar Ali Mirza's decision to impose martial law against prime minister Feroze Khan's administration on 7 October 1958. Soon after, Ayub had himself declared president, and Mirza was exiled. Ayub reorganized the administration and acted to restore the economy through agrarian reforms and stimulation of industry. Foreign investment was also encouraged. Ayub introduced the system of "basic democracies" in 1960. It consisted of a network of local self-governing bodies to provide a link between the government and the people. A national referendum among all those elected confirmed Ayub as president. He was reelected under this system in 1965, against a strong challenge from an opposition united behind Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. When the United States began to rearm India after China's invasion of northern India in 1962, Ayub established close relations with China and received substantial military aid from it. In the meantime, Pakistan's dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir worsened, culminating in the outbreak of war in 1965. After the Tashkent Declaration ended hostilities, he fell out with Khan and was sacked from government, and in December 1967 he founded the PPP. Bhutto denounced the Ayub Khan regime as a dictatorship and was subsequently imprisoned (1968–69). After the overthrow of the Ayub Khan regime by Gen. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, national elections were held in 1970. Although Bhutto and his party won a sweeping electoral victory in West Pakistan, the biggest election winner was the Awami League, an East Pakistan-based party that had campaigned for full autonomy for East Pakistan. Bhutto refused to form a government with this separatist party, causing a nullification of the election. The widespread rioting that followed degenerated into civil war, after which East Pakistan, with the help of India, emerged as the independent state of Bangladesh. Bhutto became the president of Pakistan in 1971 after the resignation of Yahya Khan, and later the prime minister in 1973 after the adoption of a new constitution, which restored parliamentary democracy in the country. He initiated various reforms in the fields of education, health, industry, agriculture, and foreign policy. He also pursued a nuclear program and hosted the second Islamic Summit Conference in Lahore in 1974. However, he faced opposition from religious parties, ethnic nationalists, and the judiciary, who accused him of authoritarianism, corruption, and nepotism. He was ousted from power in 1977 by a military coup led by Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who imposed martial law in the country. Bhutto was arrested and tried for the murder of a political opponent, and despite international appeals, he was executed by hanging in 1979. He is regarded as one of the most influential and popular leaders of Pakistan, who gave voice to the masses and championed the cause of democracy and social justice. [1]