Muhammed Ayub Khan
Muhammed Ayub Khan ( Urdu محمد ایوب خان; * May 14, 1907 in Rehana village, Hazara district ; † April 20, 1974 in Rawalpindi ) was a Pakistani officer , politician and president . He was the youngest general and (self-appointed) field marshal in Pakistan's military history. He was also the first Pakistani military to take power through a coup .
Life
Born in Rehana Village, Hazara District , he attended school in Sarai Saleh, which is about four miles from his home village, and where he rode a mule. He later moved to a school in the district capital Haripur, where he lived with his grandmother. From 1922 he studied at Aligarh Muslim University but was delegated to the British Military Academy Sandhurst before graduating with a BA , where he distinguished himself and received an officer post in the British-Indian Army .
In World War II he was a captain , later a major on the Burmese front . After the war and the partition of India he was accepted into the young Pakistani army and soon made it to brigadier general . As such, he commanded a brigade in Waziristan and was transferred to East Pakistan in 1948 with the rank of major general , where he commanded a division that was responsible for the entire part of the country. On January 17, 1951, Ayub became the first Pakistani to take command of the Pakistani armed forces as the successor to British General Sir Douglas Gracey .
Coup and President
In 1954, he became Minister of Defense in Muhammad Ali Bogra's second cabinet . When the first president of the young Pakistan Iskander Mirza failed to establish stable political conditions and he proclaimed martial law on October 7, 1958 , he made Ayub Khan a martial law administrator. After taking control of the Pakistani army, Ayub deposed President Mirza in a bloodless coup on October 27, 1958. Three generals arrested Mirza in the middle of the night and exiled him in England. This was initially very much welcomed in Pakistan, as the country had suffered severely from the unstable political conditions since it was founded in 1947. It was said that Mirza tried to arrest Ayub and other generals, forcing them to act.
In 1960, Ayub held an indirect referendum that confirmed that he was in power. Around 80,000 elected village councilors (grassroots Democrats) voted on the question “Do you have confidence in the President, Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan?”. You voted yes with 95.6%. Ayub Khan used this approval to give his new regime a fixed form: he had a new constitution drawn up, which was completed in 1960. It essentially reflected his views on politicians and the use of religion in politics. In 1962, a new constitution was passed that, while respecting Islam , did not make it the state religion . It also provided for the election of the state president by 80,000 (later 120,000) so-called “grassroots democrats” (elected municipal councilors). An elected national assembly was allowed, but had limited powers. Based on these constitutions, Ayub was re-elected in 1960 and 1965, respectively.
Reforms
In terms of domestic politics, Ayub tried a variety of reforms. On May 2, 1961, he introduced a Muslim family law by decree, which limited polygamy and made the consent of the first wife to another marriage mandatory. The immediate divorce under Islamic law, in which the husband had to utter the words "I repudiate you" three times in a row, has been abolished. So-called local arbitration tribunals were set up
- had to give permission for second marriages
- had to mediate in conflicts between spouses
- had to provide for the maintenance of women and children.
His other domestic political measures, such as the major land reform or the conversion of the economy to a five-year plan , had rather moderate success.
In terms of foreign policy, Ayub sought rapprochement with China despite close military cooperation with the USA against the Soviet Union , as he saw his country threatened by neighboring India . He achieved a military partnership and a border agreement with China.
Presidential election January 2, 1965
Confident of his popularity, Ayub Khan called new presidential elections in 1964, which he won despite the fact that the united opposition parties nominated the popular and respected sister of state founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah , Fatima Jinnah , as a candidate. They received a total of 36% of the vote, Ayub received a total of 63% of the vote (in East Pakistan the ratio was 46% for Fatima against 53% for Ayub and in West Pakistan 26% for Fatima against 73% for Ayub) in a highly controversial election . Journalists, but also historians, claim that it was "fake".
Second war with India
When the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964 , Ayub saw India's weakening in the unresolved question of self-determination in Kashmir , which he now believed he could conquer by force. In 1965 he instigated the Second Indo-Pakistani War . This was to be the turning point of his regime. Despite military successes, the war severely impaired the positive development of the Pakistani economy. The diplomatic intervention of the USSR led to the peace conference in Tashkent , and in the same year the disputes were settled, albeit without resolving the Kashmir conflict , which continues to this day.
The war also broke with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , who resigned and went into opposition to Ayub. He also intensified the ongoing conflict with East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ), where the Awami League under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded more political and cultural autonomy for the province.
The poor stability of the Pakistani economy was severely disrupted by this conflict. In 1968 civil war-like unrest broke out. Ayub, now under strong political pressure and in poor health, resigned on March 25, 1969. He passed power to General Yahya Khan , even though the move was not constitutional. Yahya then suspended the constitution and re-imposed martial law.
literature
- Mohammad Ayub Khan: Memories and Confessions . Horst Erdmann Verlag, Tübingen and Basel 1968, ISBN.
- Karl J. Newman: Pakistan under Ayub Khan, Bhutto and Zia-ul-Haq . Weltforum Verlag, Munich-Cologne-London 1986, ISBN 3-8039-0327-0 .
- Christophe Jaffrelot (Ed.): A History of Pakistan and its Origins . 1st edition. Wimbledon Publishing Company, London 2002, ISBN 1-84331-030-9 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Muhammed Ayub Khan in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl J. Newman: Pakistan under Ayub Khan, Bhutto and Zia-ul-Haq . P. 31, ISBN 3-8039-0327-0
- ↑ Ayub Khan: Memories and Confessions . Pp. 115-121
- ↑ Ayub Khan: Memories and Confessions . Pp. 357/375
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Douglas Gracey | Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army 1951–1958 |
Muhammad Musa Khan |
| Feroz Khan Noon |
Prime Minister of Pakistan 1958 |
vacant until 1971, then Nurul Amin |
| Iskander Ali Mirza |
President of Pakistan 1958–1969 |
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ayub Khan, Muhammed |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Pakistani officer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rehana, Hazara District |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 20, 1974 |
| Place of death | Rawalpindi |