Tikka Khan

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General Tikka Khan
Tenure Order: 7th Chief of the Army Staff
Took Office: March 1972 – March 1976
Predecessor: Gen. Gul Hasan
Successor: Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Tikka Khan (Urdu: ٹکا خان) (b. 1915 d. March 28, 2002) was Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff from March 1972–March 1976).

Khan was born in the village of Jochha Mamdot (Tehsil Kahuta) near Rawalpindi, a Janjua Rajput in descent, in 1915 (in what was then British India). He was a graduate of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, and was commissioned in 1939.

He fought in World War II as part of the Indian Army, and was injured on multiple occasions during the fighting. He was in action in numerous battles on both the Burmese and Italian fronts. He was also a prisoner of war for more than two years during the war, before he and his fellow troops escaped.

After his return from World War II, Khan was an instructor at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for some time. During the Partition of India, Major Tikka Khan remained in what is now Pakistan, and became an officer in the Pakistan Army.

He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 1962.

Contents

[edit] 1965 War

One of Khan's greatest successes on the battlefield came in the spring of 1965, during the series of clashes between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch. By most accounts, the Pakistani forces performed very well on the battlefield; this led to a very high level of confidence among Pakistani Army commanders.

General Tikka Khan was at the Sialkot front during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, and successfully defended the city from an Indian attack, during the epic Battle of Chawinda, halting and then pushing back the Indians. Due to these performances, General Tikka became something of a hero to the Pakistani people, having the image of being an extremely tough commander and a loyal soldier who strictly followed the army chain of command.

[edit] Between the wars

General Tikka was the corps commander of Lahore during the late 1960s, during which time he earned a reputation of being a tough administrator and strict disciplinarian. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1969.

[edit] 71' Crisis

In early 1971, East Pakistan was in severe turmoil. The long years of severe martial law had alienated the East Pakistanis, and the cancellations of handing over power to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had won the 1970 Pakistani elections, led to an explosion of pent-up rage against the West Pakistanis. In the wake of the resignations of two East Pakistan governors, Lt.General Sahabzada Yaqub Khan and Admiral Ahsan, General Tikka Khan was sent to East Pakistan as the Governor and Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) by the President, General Yahya Khan.

As General Tikka landed in Dacca on 7 March 1971, he was ordered to keep the Army in the barracks as negotiations between Yahya Khan and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proceeded. With the failure of negotiations, General Yahya Khan ordered General Tikka to commence a crackdown on the Awami League. On 25 March, Operation Searchlight commenced and Sheikh Mujeeb was arrested. While addressing Pakistani soldiers involved in the operation, Tikka Khan explicitly directed soldiers to secure the land at any cost. Then began a systematic elimination of Bengali elements leading to an armed struggle of Mukti Bahini against the Pakistan Army. With continued fighting and mounting pressure on Yahya Khan to seek a political solution to the conflict, General Tikka Khan was finally called back to the West Pakistan in early September 1971.

[edit] Army Chief

After the war, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the Prime Minister. After a brief tenure by General Gul Hasan at the helm of the Pakistan Army, Bhutto appointed General Tikka Khan as the Chief of the Army Staff in March 1972. One of Tikka Khan's earliest responsibilities was to oversee Pakistan's nascent nuclear program, which Bhutto had initiated in early 1972. The goal of the nuclear program was to enhance Pakistan's security, and the program's pace was accelerated after India's 1974 nuclear test. Another major task undertaken by Tikka Khan was the repatriation and re-settlement of 90,000 Prisoners of War from India, which included thousands of civilians as well.

[edit] Post Retirement

Tikka Khan’s tenure ended in March 1976, and he was later appointed Defence Minister by Bhutto. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's July 1977 coup led to the arrest of both Bhutto and General Tikka Khan. Bhutto was executed in 1979, after which General Tikka Khan emerged as one of the leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), becoming its Secretary General, during a time when many party stalwarts abandoned it. General Tikka was imprisoned numerous times for his political activities during the late 1970s and 1980s, until Zia-ul-Haq died in August 1988 in an airplane explosion over Bahawalpur. General Tikka Khan was appointed the Governor of Pakistan’s largest province, the Punjab, in December 1988. His tenure as the Governor was cut short by the dismissal of the Benazir government in August 1990, after which he retired from active politics.

[edit] Later Life and Death

General Tikka Khan died on March 28, 2002 after several years of illness. In a message to the General's son, Col. Khalid M. Khan, Benazir Bhutto, who had spent many years campaigning with the General, remembered him as a person who, "rose to the highest offices of this country due to his hard work and respect for the rule of law." He was buried with full military honours in the Army Graveyard in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

[edit] Legacy

As a politician, Tikka Khan will be remembered for his intense loyalty to the Bhutto political clan, whatever the political climate in the country, first to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and then later to Benazir Bhutto. As a soldier, it is the duty of a general to win and Tikka won most of the time.

He is regarded as a war criminal for atrocities committed in the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Zaheer, Hasan: The separation of East Pakistan : The rise and realization of Bengali Muslim nationalism, Oxford University Press, 1994. Sisson, Richard & Rose, Leo: War and secession : Pakistan, India, and the creation of Bangladesh, University of California Press (Berkeley), 1990.

Matinuddin, General Kamal: Tragedy of Errors : East Pakistan Crisis, 1968-1971, Wajidalis, Lahore, Pakistan, 1994.

Salik, Siddiq: Witness to surrender, Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1977.

[edit] References

    [edit] External links

    Military Offices
    Preceded by
    General Gul Hasan    		 Chiefs of Army Staff, Pakistan
    1972–1976    		 Succeeded by
    General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/i/k/Tikka_Khan_c9b4.html"
    In other languages