This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2024) |
1971 Pakistan Mutiny | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Bangladesh Liberation War and Military coups in Pakistan | |||||||
The officers of the 9th Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment on 23 March 1974 | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Government of Pakistan | Pakistan Air Force | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
President Yahya Khan General Abdul Hamid Khan Major General Bacchu Karim | Brigadier Farrukh Bakht Ali Brigadier Iqbal Mehdi Shah Colonel Aleem Afridi Colonel Agha Javed Iqbal Lt Col Mohammed Khursheed Hussain Abdur Rahim Khan General Gul Hassan Khan |
1971 Pakistan Military Officer's Revolt, also known as the Majors and Colonels Revolt, refers to the deposition of the Yahya Khan's regime in Pakistan by Brigadier Farrukh Bakht Ali, Brigadier Iqbal Mehdi Shah, Colonel Aleem Afridi, Colonel Agha Javed Iqbal, Lt Col Mohammed Khursheed Hussain and other officers. Their action overthrew the government, transferring power to the elected civilian representatives. The revolt succeeded as General Yahya Khan and his government resigned, with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto then taking power as president of Pakistan. [1] [2] [3]
The plan to separate East Pakistan from Pakistan had been in plans since 1962 when then president Ayub Khan had requested assistance of West Pakistani politician Abdul Wali Khan to ensure a breakup of Pakistan into two parts, but he refused and insisted to work against him. Ayub also offered an independent East Pakistan to Muhammad Ibrahim, who was the minister of law in Pakistan and a Bengali. Ayub removed Ibrahim because of his refusal and replaced him with Muhammad Munir, who was supportive of Ayub in his attempt to break up Pakistan. [4] [5] [6]
Prior to Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan, The Pakistan Armed Forces had raged a military campaign of in Balochistan with war crimes and sexual violence while PAF aircraft were used to bomb indiscriminately. Although no punishment been given to Tikka Khan who was in charge of the military campaign. [7]
During Operation Searchlight in 1971, civilians were killed and raped and Bengali nationalists retributed in equal amounts of violence on the non-Bengali Muhajir community. Due to Operation Searchlight, the Bengali Police and Military personnel mutinied and thus the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War. [8]
Eventually, the intervention of India happened due to airstrikes on its military airbases starting the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, with Indian forces and Mukti Bahini fighters managed to break Pakistani resistance and reached the outskirts of Dacca, the provincial capital, when a surrender was announced by East Pakistan Command. The surrender caused entire West Pakistan into a shock as they had been fed with propaganda that their military was winning in the war. [9]
When the news of Pakistan's surrender was broadcast by West Pakistani media, the spontaneous and overwhelming public anger over the nation's defeat by Bangladeshi rebels and the Indian Army, and over the breakup of Pakistan into two parts, boiled into street demonstrations throughout Pakistan. [10]
On 17 December 1971 just one day after the surrender by Eastern Command, Brigadier F.B. Ali, who was an Army officer, wrote his resignation letter accepting his own responsibility for the loss of East Pakistan and expected that Yahya Khan and his advisors would follow suit and also resign. But the next day Ali had heard that Yahya was planning to create a new constitution, which infuriated Ali. Brigadier Ali determined that the loss of one war was enough and that it was imperative to get rid of Yahya's military junta. He picked up Brigadier Iqbal Mehdi Shah, Colonel Aleem Afridi, Colonel Agha Javed Iqbal, Lt Col Khursheed, and other officers and told them that they owed it to Pakistan to get rid of the discredited junta and hand over power to the elected civilian representatives of 1970 Pakistani general election. [1]
All officers present, agreed. However, there was a problem as Maj Gen Bashir "Ranghar", Major General R.D. Shamim, and Major General "Bachoo" Karim were in Gujranwala and had the authority to counter F.B. Ali's orders. [1]
On 19 December 1971, F.B. Ali arrested the three generals and seized command of Major General "Bachoo" Karim's 6th Armoured Division. Ali then sent Colonels Aleem Afridi and Agha Javed Iqbal to deliver a letter demanding Yahya Khan's resignation by 8 PM that night for being responsible for the loss of East Pakistan. The two colonels took the letter to CGS Gul Hassan, who initially felt saddened by the defeat in the war and told them that he planned to leave the army. However, upon learning about the contents of the letter from the two Colonels, Hassan's mood brightened, and he went to Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan. Hassan told Colonel Aleem Afridi and Colonel Agha Javed Iqbal to sit in Major Javed Nasir's office. [1]
Earlier in the day, during an address by General Abdul Hamid Khan in Gujranwala, young officers, led by Brigadier Fazal-e-Rasiq Khan, unleashed a barrage of insults in English, Urdu, and Punjabi towards Abdul Hamid, Yahya Khan, and other superiors. They called them "bloody bastards," "debauches," and "drunkards," expressing their deep frustration. [1]
Abdul Hamid Khan was rushed out of the auditorium and sought advice from Major General A.O. Mitha, who stated that he could deploy Special Service Group troops to prevent a potential takeover by 6 Division but there were not enough troops. A.O. Mitha then reached out to Ali suggesting that Abdul Hamid Khan should take over from Yahya Khan. Ali refused stating that Hamid was too close to Yahya Khan and was just as responsible for the loss of East Pakistan. [1]
Meanwhile, the reports of near mutiny in Gujranwala prompted Gul Hassan Khan and Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan to go to Yahya Khan, telling him to resign. Abdur Rahim Khan had threatened to bring in the Pakistan Air Force to back the mutiny while General Hassan told Yahya that the junior brass of the Army were also not happy with him. A Pakistan International Airlines flight was sent to fetch Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from New York City, where he was presenting Pakistan's case before the United Nations Security Council on the East Pakistan Crisis. Bhutto returned home on 18 December 1971. On 20 December, he was taken to the President House in Rawalpindi, where he took over two positions from Yahya Khan, one as president and the other as the first civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator. [3] [11]
Within hours of Yahya Khan stepping down, President Bhutto reversed the Judge Advocate General Branch's verdict against East Pakistani leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and instead released him, allowing him to fly to London. President Bhutto also issued orders for the house arrest of Yahya, the man who imprisoned Mujib in the first place. Both actions made news headlines around the world. [10]
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was a Pakistani military officer who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971. He also served as the fifth commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from 1966 to 1971.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a Pakistani barrister, politician, and statesman. He served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth prime minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. Bhutto founded the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution for murder.
Gul Hassan Khan known secretly as 'George', was a Pakistani former three-star rank general and diplomat who served as the sixth and last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, from 20 December 1971 until 3 March 1972, marking the shortest tenure in the role. Gul Hassan resigned along with Abdur Rahim Khan after they refused President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's request to deploy their forces to suppress a police strike protesting against the government for a pay increase.
Tikka Khan was a Pakistani military officer who served as the first chief of the army staff from 1972 to 1976. Along with Yahya Khan, he is considered a chief architect of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide that resulted in the deaths of up to 3,000,000 people. His leadership of the Pakistani Army actions in Bangladesh led to him being dubbed the "Butcher of Bengal" by Bengalis.
Khan Abdul Wali Khan was a Pashtun Pakistani democratic socialist politician who served as president of Awami National Party. Son of the prominent Pashtun nationalist leader Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Wali Khan was an activist and a writer against the British Raj like his father.
General elections were held in Pakistan on 7 December 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first direct general elections since the independence of Pakistan and ultimately the only ones held prior to the independence of Bangladesh. Voting took place in 300 general constituencies, of which 162 were in East Pakistan and 138 in West Pakistan. A further thirteen seats were reserved for women, who were to be elected by members of the National Assembly.
The Peshawar High Court is the provincial and highest judicial institution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. It is located in the provincial capital Peshawar. The Parliament passed a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Peshawar High Court to Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), one of a handful of reforms paving the way for a merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan was a three-star air officer who served as the last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force under President Yahya Khan, from 1969 until 1972.
The Hamoodur Rahman Commission, was a judicial inquiry commission that assessed Pakistan's political–military involvement in East-Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. The commission was set up on 26 December 1971 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then President of Pakistan and chaired under Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
Project-706, also known as Project-786 was the codename of a research and development program to develop Pakistan's first nuclear weapons. The program was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear tests conducted in May 1974. During the course of this program, Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers developed the requisite nuclear infrastructure and gained expertise in the extraction, refining, processing and handling of fissile material with the ultimate goal of designing a nuclear device. These objectives were achieved by the early 1980s with the first successful cold test of a Pakistani nuclear device in 1983. The two institutions responsible for the execution of the program were the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Munir Ahmed Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan respectively. In 1976 an organization called Special Development Works (SDW) was created within the Pakistan Army, directly under the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan) (COAS). This organization worked closely with PAEC and KRL to secretly prepare the nuclear test sites in Baluchistan and other required civil infrastructure.
Military coups in Pakistan began in 1958 when military officer Muhammad Ayub Khan overthrew and exiled president Iskandar Ali Mirza. Since its creation in 1947, Pakistan has spent several decades under military rule. After their respective terms in office, each of the past five prime ministers of Pakistan has faced convictions or imprisonment. This trend highlights a significant aspect of Pakistan's political landscape: the prevailing rule that the Pakistani military exercises influence wherever it deems necessary, often persisting despite potential repercussions. Throughout Pakistani history, the military has played a prominent role in governance, with periods where it has directly ruled the country.
Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram, better known as A. I. Akram, was a Pakistani three-star general, military strategist, historian, diplomat, and one of Pakistan's most influential military historians. In the 1980s, Akram was a well-known defence expert and defence analyst. His most popular work was his biography of Khalid ibn al-Walid, The Sword of Allah, which he published while serving in the Pakistan Army. For several years, it was compulsory reading in the Pakistan Army for admission into the Command and Staff College Quetta and has been on the leadership syllabus in the Malaysian Army. Akram was once seen as a close confidant and conceptual adviser of President Zia-ul-Haq.
Jalaluddin Abdur Rahim was a Pakistani communist and political philosopher who was known as one of the founding members of the Pakistan People's Party—a democratic socialist political party. Abdur Rahim was also the first Secretary-General of the Pakistan People's Party, served as the first minister of production. A Bengali civil servant, Abdur Rahim was a philosopher who politically guided Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, serving as his mentor, and had helped Bhutto navigate through the minefield of bureaucratic establishment when Ayub Khan had taken Bhutto into his cabinet. Abdur Rahim also guided Bhutto after Bhutto was deposed as Foreign Minister, critically guiding Bhutto to take down the once US-sponsored dictatorship of Ayub Khan.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army was the professional head of the Pakistan Army from 1947 to 1972. The C-in-C was directly responsible for commanding the army. It was an administrative position and the appointment holder had main operational command authority over the army.
Attock conspiracy refers to a plot by Brig. Ali, Major Farouk Adam Khan, Squadron Leader Ghous, Colonel Aleem Afridi and Lt. Colonel Tariq Rafi against the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to overthrow the government and establish a revolutionary military junta. However Colonel Aleem Afridi played as double agent. He backed down and informed the government about the plot. The coup plotters were arrested,court martialed and jailed.