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 Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army from 1966 to 1971. Along with Tikka Khan, he was considered the chief architect of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, also known as the third India-Pakistan war, was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war began with Pakistan's Operation Chengiz Khan, consisting of preemptive aerial strikes on eight Indian air stations. The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan, marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence, on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts. Thirteen days after the war started, India achieved a clear upper hand, and the Eastern Command of the Pakistan military signed the instrument of surrender on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka, marking the formation of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh. Approximately 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken prisoner by the Indian Army, which included 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces, including some Bengali soldiers who had remained loyal to Pakistan. The remaining 10,324 to 12,500 prisoners were civilians, either family members of the military personnel or collaborators (Razakars).
The Battle of Longewala was one of the first major engagements in the western sector during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, fought between assaulting Pakistani forces and Indian defenders at the Indian border post of Longewala, in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. The battle was fought between 120 Indian soldiers accompanied by four Hawker Hunter and three HAL Marut fighter-bombers and 2,000–3,000 Pakistani soldiers accompanied by 30–40 tanks.
The Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. The war began when the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan—under the orders of Yahya Khan—launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971, initiating the Bangladesh genocide.
Lieutenant General Gul Hassan Khan known secretly as George, was a three-star rank Pakistan Army general and diplomat who served as the 6th and last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, serving from 20 December 1971 until 3 March 1972, the shortest tenure. Gul Hassan resigned along with Abdur Rahim Khan after they refused Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's request to use their forces to end a police strike protesting for a pay increase against Bhutto's government.
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 which according to independent researchers led to the deaths of 300,000 to 500,000 people.
Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi commonly known as General Niazi was a Pakistani military officer. During the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he commanded the Pakistani Eastern Command in East Pakistan. he signed the instrument of surrender as on 16 December 1971 his forces had to surrender to the Indian Army's Eastern Command's commander Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora by the order of the then President of Pakistan Yahya Khan.
Major General Rao Farman Ali KhanSQA SK was a Pakistani military officer who is widely considered a key architect of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, NI. HI, was a Pakistani Bengali jurist and an academic who served as the Chief Justices of Pakistan from 18 November 1968 until 31 October 1975.
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis, especially Bengali Hindus, residing in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as Operation Searchlight was launched by West Pakistan to militarily subdue the Bengali population of East Pakistan; the Bengalis comprised the demographic majority and had been calling for independence from the Pakistani state. Seeking to curtail the Bengali self-determination movement, erstwhile Pakistani president Yahya Khan approved a large-scale military deployment, and in the nine-month-long conflict that ensued, Pakistani soldiers and local pro-Pakistan militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 Bengalis and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women in a systematic campaign of mass murder and genocidal sexual violence. In their investigation of the genocide, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists concluded that Pakistan's campaign involved the attempt to exterminate or forcibly remove a significant portion of the country's Hindu populace.
Mohammed Attiqur Rahman, MC was a senior general in the Pakistan Army, a noted military historian, and a senior government official. He was the martial law administrator (MLA) of West Pakistan in General Yahya Khan's military regime. He was educated at St.Paul's school, London and joined IMA in 1939 with a sword of Honour and then joined 4th/12th FFR. He was the last Governor of West Pakistan and implemented the dissolution of the One Unit scheme, after which he became the first Governor of Punjab province.
The Wali Khan faction of the National Awami Party was formed after the 1967 split in the original NAP between Maulana Bhashani and Abdul Wali Khan. The Wali Khan faction was later named National Awami Party (NAP) after the independence of Bangladesh.
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII; is a constitutional body of Pakistan, responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the government and the Parliament.
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 the government of Pakistan and chaired under Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
General Abdul Hamid KhanHQA SPk SQA was a senior officer in the Pakistan Army. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, he led the Pakistan 11th Division to victory in the Battle of Kasur. He served as the Chief of Staff (COS)of the Pakistan Army under President Yahya Khan and led the army during the Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War in 1971. He is accused of inflicting genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Vice Admiral Syed Mohammad AhsanHQA, SPk, DSC, DMM, LOM often known as S. M. Ahsan, was a senior admiral of the Pakistan Navy who was the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Navy, serving under President Ayub Khan from 1966 until 1969.
Admiral Mohammad ShariffNI(M) HJ HI(M) LoM, was a Pakistan Navy senior admiral, who served as the 2nd Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and a memoirist who was at the center of all the major decisions made in Pakistan in the events involving the war with India in 1971, the enforcement of martial law in the country in 1977, and the decision in covertly intervening against Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Lieutenant General Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram better known as A. I. Akram was a three-star rank general, military strategist, author, historian, diplomat, and one of Pakistan's most influential soldier-scholars. In the 1980s, Akram was a well-known defence expert and defence analyst. Akram's most popular work was his biography of Khalid ibn al-Walid, The Sword of Allah which Akram 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 of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and his conceptual adviser.
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.
