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Yahya Khan

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Yahya Khan

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Also known as Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, Yahya Khan Qizilbash, Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan

former Pakistani president (1917–1980)

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Yahya Khan (1917–1980) was a Pakistani diplomat, politician, and military general. Born in Chakwal, he served as President of Pakistan, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Federal Minister for Defence. He held citizenship in both Pakistan and the British Raj. Khan was a member of the British Indian Army and participated in World War II. He received the Nishan-e-Pakistan and the Order of Pahlavi.

He was educated at the University of the Punjab, the Indian Military Academy, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Khan spoke Urdu and practiced Islam. He died in Rawalpindi and was buried in Peshawar. His name in native language is آغا محمد یحیی خان.

Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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Encyclopedic overview

Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980) was a Pakistani general who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, under martial law. His presidency oversaw a civil war in East Pakistan, resulting in Bangladesh's secession. He also served as the fifth commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from 1966 to 1971.

Khan was commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1939 and fought in the Second World War in the Mediterranean theatre. Following the partition of British India, he joined the Pakistan Army and was placed in charge of organising the Staff College in Quetta. In 1965, he played a vital role in executing Operation Grand Slam in Indian-administered Kashmir during the second Indo-Pakistani war and was assigned to assume the command of the army in September 1966 by President Ayub Khan. In the wake of nationwide protests against Ayub Khan's government, he resigned from the presidency and transferred authority to Yahya Khan in March 1969.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Yahya Khan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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