Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan NPk HJ HPk MBE (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani politician and military officer who served as the 2nd president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation in 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, serving from 1951 to 1958. Khan's presidency started in 1958 when he overthrew President Iskander Mirza in a coup d'état, and ended in 1969 when he resigned amid mass protests and strikes across the country.
Born in the North-West Frontier Province, Khan was educated from the Aligarh Muslim University and trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He fought in the Second World War on the British side against the Imperial Japanese Army. After the Partition of British India in August 1947, he joined the Pakistan Army and was posted in East Bengal. In 1951, he became the first native commander-in-chief, succeeding General Gracey. From 1953 to 1958, he served in the civilian government as Defence and Home Minister and supported President Iskandar Ali Mirza's decision to impose martial law against prime minister Feroz Khan Noon's administration on 7 October 1958. Three weeks later, Ayub Khan seized the presidency in a military coup, the first in the country's history.
As president, Khan appointed General Musa Khan to replace him as Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, who served as Army Chief for 8 years under President Khan. He aligned Pakistan with the United States, and allowed American access to air bases inside Pakistan, most notably the airbase outside of Peshawar, from which spy missions over the Soviet Union were launched. Relations with neighboring China were strengthened, but his alignment with the US worsened relations with the Soviet Union in 1962. He launched Operation Gibraltar against India in 1965, leading to an all-out war. It resulted in a stalemate, and peace was restored via the Tashkent Declaration. Domestically, Ayub subscribed to the laissez-faire policy of Western-aligned nations at the time. Ayub Khan privatised state-owned industries and liberalised the economy generally. Large inflows of foreign aid and investment led to the fastest-growing economy in South Asia. His tenure was also distinguished by the completion of hydroelectric stations, dams, and reservoirs. Under Khan, Pakistan's space program was established, and the country launched its first uncrewed space mission by 1962. However, the failure of land reforms and a weak taxation system meant that most of this growth landed in the hands of the elite. In 1965, Khan entered the presidential race as the Convention Muslim League's candidate to counter the opposition candidate Fatima Jinnah. Khan won the elections and was re-elected for a second term. In 1967, disapproval of price hikes of food prompted demonstrations across the country led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Following the protests in East Pakistan, Khan resigned on 25 March 1969 and appointed General Yahya Khan as his successor. Later, fighting a brief illness, he died in 1974.
Ayub Khan remains the country's longest-serving president and second-longest serving head of state. His legacy remains mixed; his era is often referred to as the "Decade of Development." Khan is credited with economic prosperity and industrialisation. He is denounced by critics for beginning the first of the intelligence agencies' incursions into national politics, for concentrating wealth in a corrupt few hands, and for geographically discriminatory policies that later led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Ayub Khan was born on 14 May 1907 in Rehana, a village in the Haripur district of the North-West Frontier Province of British India into a Hindko-speaking family of Pashtun descent, belonging to the Tareen tribe.
He was the first child of the second wife of Mir Dad Khan, a Risaldar-Major (an armoured corps JCO which was then known as VCO) in the 9th Hodson's Horse which was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. For his basic education, he was enrolled in a school in Sarai Saleh, which was about 4 miles from his village. He used to go to school on a mule's back and was shifted to a school in Haripur, where he started living with his grandmother.
He went on to study at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and while pursuing his college education, he was accepted into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst on the recommendation of General Andrew Skeen; he trained first in India and then departed for Great Britain. Ayub Khan was fluent in Urdu, Pashto, English, and his native Hindko language.
Ayub Khan was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1926. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 2 February 1928 in the 1st Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment (better known as 1/14th Punjab Regiment) of the British Indian Army – before this he was attached to the Royal Fusiliers. Amongst those who passed out with him was Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, who served as Chief of the Army Staff of India from 1962 to 1966 while Ayub was the president of Pakistan. After the standard probationary period of service in the British Army, he was appointed to the British Indian Army on 10 April 1929, joining the 1/14th Punjab Regiment Sherdils, now known as the 5th Punjab Regiment.
He was promoted to lieutenant on 2 May 1930 and to captain on 2 February 1937. During World War II, he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1942 and was posted in Burma to participate in the first phase of the Burma Campaign in 1942–43. He was promoted to the permanent rank of major on 2 February 1945. Later that year, he was promoted to temporary colonel and assumed the command of his own regiment in which he was commissioned to direct operations in the second phase of the Burma Campaign.
In 1946, he was posted back to British India and was stationed in the North-West Frontier Province. In 1947, he was promoted to brigadier and commanded a brigade in South Waziristan.
When the United Kingdom announced the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan, he was one of the most senior serving officers in the British Indian Army who opted for Pakistan in 1947. At the time of his joining, he was the tenth ranking officer in terms of seniority with service number PA-010.
In the early part of 1948, he was given the command of the 14th Infantry Division in the rank of acting major-general stationed in Dacca, East Pakistan. In 1949, he was decorated with the Hilal-i-Jurat (HJ) by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan for non-combatant service and called back to General Headquarters as the Adjutant General of the army on November of the same year.
Commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army
As the tenure of General Gracey was nearing its end at the close of 1949, the Pakistan government had called for appointing native commanders-in-chief of the army, air force, and navy and dismissed deputation appointments from the British military. General Headquarters sent the nomination papers to the Prime Minister's Secretariat for the appointment of commander-in-chief. There were four major generals in the race: Muhammed Akbar Khan, Iftikhar Khan, Ishfakul Majid, and Nawabzada Agha Mohammad Raza. Among these officers, Akbar was the senior, having been commissioned in 1920.
That year, Gracey approached Akbar Khan to succeed him. However, Akbar declined, citing that the position was beyond his competence. The next candidate in line was Akbar's younger brother, Iftikhar Khan. However, Iftikhar died in an air crash in December 1949 before he could take office, resulting in Gracey's extension. On 23 January 1951, General Ayub Khan succeeded him.
Defence Secretary Iskandar Mirza at that time played a crucial role in lobbying for the army post selection, by presenting convincing arguments to Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan to promote the most junior major-general, Ayub Khan (commissioned in 1928), to the post despite the fact that his name was not included in the nomination list. Ayub's papers of promotion were approved, and he was appointed the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army on 17 January 1951 by Prime Minister Ali Khan. This ended the transitional role of British military officers in the army. The events surrounding Ayub's appointment set the precedent for a native general being promoted out of turn, ostensibly because he was the least ambitious of the generals in the line of promotion and the most loyal to civil government at that time.