SAHABZADA MOHAMMAD YAQUB KHAN

A rare breed General, who stood up when it mattered.

Born: December 3, 1923. Rampur, India

Government Services: Pakistan Army 1940-1971, Pakistani Ambassador(France,USA,USSR) 1972-1982. Foreign Minister of Pakistan 1982-1990. Governor East Pakistan – 1969

U.N. Secy., General’s Special Envoy to Western Sahara, 1992-1997.

Founding Chairman Board of Trustees, Agha Khan University 1984 – 2001

Commissioner of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict.

Lieutenant General (R) Sahabzada Yaqub Khan is remembered as a princely intellectual by inner circles. To others, (as for us, the 80’s & 90’s generation) he was the Foreign Minister under various governments, military and civilian.

Why is he a hero ? After all he was an Army General, who served a Military Regime ? And like many others in retired military bureaucracy, enjoyed various state offices ?

SAHABZADA MOHAMMAD YAQUB ALI KHAN, was the Chief of General Staff, Commander Eastern Command, Dhaka, of the then East Pakistan. Strictly a military position. He was however, for a brief period, care taker Governor of the then Eastern Pakistan.

Unlike any other General on record, he profoundly refused to carry out military operation against the people. He strongly opposed the idea of using military force, to settle the political uncertainty. His recommendations on how to handle the issue, how to win back the trust of the people were totally ignored by the regime in power. At last he stood up & refused to initiate the Military operation.

As an aftermath he was removed from his position, delegated from his rank, and forcefully retired. His courageous act is admired by Pakistani & Bengali historians alike, for what he had done was heroic by all means. Unlike some of the present day, media savvy retired Generals, who suddenly encounter a change of heart & come forward to defend the nation, Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, took the stand when it mattered the most.

We do need Generals like him. The ones who can stand up to the Army Chiefs, and say ‘No’ to their extra constitutional ambitions. I reckon he is one of his kind, a rare breed, A General who is actually a hero.

More on Sahabzada Yaqub Ali Khan:

• Biography: Strategy, Diplomacy, Humanity: Life and Work of Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan by Anwar Dil
• We can also read about him in ‘Memoirs of the Rebel Princess’ by Abida Sultan
• Also in the British High Commission Intelligence Documents of 1966, declassified later on.

Related Web Links:

• Wikipedia article
• Defence Journal article by M. Zafar
• Nation Master Encyclopedia Rampur (UP) Column
• Nation Master Encyclopedia Biographical Column
• 3 Quarks Daily Article by S. Abbas Raza

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*The picture used here is taken from Wikipedia, provided in the public domain by the Federal Government of United States.