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Yahya Khan was born in Peshawar in 1917 to a family of soldiers. He attended Punjab University and finished first in his class. He then joined the British Army and served in World War II as an officer in the British Indian 4th Division . He served in Iraq, ItalyThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer and North AfricaNorth Africa is the region of the continent of Africa north of the Sahara desert, comprising the Maghreb, including Libya and Egypt, and also by some definitions the Sudan. North Africa is vastly more uniform ethnically than anywhere in Africa south of th.
Upon the formation of Pakistan, Khan helped set up an officer's school in QuettaQuetta is the capital of the province Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located in the most densely populated district in the northeast of the province. Quetta is situated in a river valley near the border with Afghanistan, with a road to Kandahar in the north, and he would command an infantry division during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965The 1965 war, also known as the Second Kashmir War between India and Pakistan was the culmination of a series of skirmishes that occurred between April 1965 and September 1965. Details of this war, like those of most India-Pakistan wars, are sketchy and r. He became the Commander in Chief in 1966Events January January 1 In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. January 2 Strike of public transportation workers in New York City ends January 13 January 3 First Acid Test at the Fil.
Ayub Khan was President of Pakistan for most of the 1960s, but by the end of the decade, popular resentment had boiled over against him. Pakistan had fallen into a state of disarray, and he handed over power to Yahya Khan. Yahya Khan immediately instituted martial lawMartial law is the system of rules that takes effect (usually after a formal declaration) when a particular situation requires that a military authority take control of the normal administration of justice (and usually of the whole state). Martial law is. Within a year he setup a framework for elections that were held in December of 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January.The results of the elections saw Pakistan split by its Eastern and Western halves. In East Pakistan, the Awami League (led by Mujibur Rahman) held almost all of the seats, but none in West Pakistan. In West Pakistan, the Pakistan Peoples Party (led by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) won the lionshare of seats, but none in East Pakistan. This led to a situation where one of the leaders of the two parties would have to give up power and allow the other to be Prime Minister of Pakistan. The situation also increased agitation, especially in East Pakistan.
Yahya Khan was unable to reach a compromise, and instead cracked down on the political agitation in East Pakistan. This led to a civil war within Pakistan, and eventually led India to get involved in what would become the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The end result saw East Pakistan declare independence as Bangladesh, and would lead Khan to step down.
Yahya Khan died in August 1980, in Rawalpindi.
| Preceded by: Gen. Musa Khan | Chiefs of Army Staff, Pakistan | Followed by: Gen. Gul Hasan |
| Preceded by : Ayub Khan |
Presidents of Pakistan | Succeeded by: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto |