Ayub Khan

Background

Mohammed Ayub Khan was born on May 14, 1907, in the village of Rehanna in what is now Pakistan. His ancestors were Pathans, and his father had served as a rissaldar, or a noncommissioned officer, in a cavalry unit in the Indian army.

Education

Ayub attended village schools, then went to the Moslem college at Aligarh in 1922. He seems to have been an indifferent student, but his family background, ability at sports, and general intelligence led to his selection to attend Sandhurst, the officers' training school in England. He was among the first group of Indians to receive this training, and his accent, idiom, dress, and bearing always reflected his British army background.

Career

Ayub was commissioned in 1927. He fought in Burma during World War II as second in command of his regiment. When India was partitioned in August 1947, he, like most Moslem army officers, chose to serve Pakistan. He received rapid promotion, becoming the first Pakistani army commander in chief in 1951.

Ayub's rise to power was a product of the years of economic and political instability that had followed the death of the two great leaders of Pakistan in its formative phase, M. A. Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan.

Ayub tells in his memoirs how, as commander in chief, he watched with growing disgust as corruption spread through every level of the nation and one ineffective government followed another. He and his fellow officers had urged the imposition of strong rule, and on October 7, 1958, he was asked by the president, Iskander Mirza, to take over the government because the civilian officials were losing control. Martial law was decreed, and shortly after taking over as chief administrator, Ayub forced Mirza to leave the country.

When Ayub became ill early in 1968, rumors spread that he had a heart attack and was paralyzed. The uncertainty about the country's future was increased when, after his recovery, an attempt was made to assassinate him in November in Peshawar. Violence became widespread in the main towns and cities, and Ayub was openly denounced. To appease his critics, Ayub announced in February 1969 that he would resign in March 1970, permitting a new president to be elected. This concession did not lessen the hostility, however, and law and order began to break down.

The danger to the country was increased by demands from East Pakistan leaders for virtual autonomy. Ayub considered declaring martial law once more, but the army leaders refused to give him their support, believing that he had become a liability to them. Realizing that he was without support, Ayub resigned on March 25, 1969, stating that as he had lost control of the situation, he could not preside over the destruction of his country. In a repetition of the events of 1958, martial law was decreed, and Yahya Khan, the commander in chief of the army, was appointed chief administrator. Ayub retired, apparently taking no further part in politics. Aside from the much-publicized business activities of his sons, Ayub shielded his private life from the public. Following Moslem social custom, only the most casual reference is made to his marriage in his autobiography. Ayub died at his home near Islamabad on April 19, 1974.

Achievements

• His legacy remains mixed; he is credited with an ostensible economic prosperity and what supporters dub the "decade of development", but is criticized for beginning the first of the intelligence agencies' incursions into the national politics, for concentrating corrupt wealth in a few hands, and segregated policies that later led to the breaking-up of nation's unity that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Pakistan-American Alliance: Stresses and Strains.

    (15 page essay in Foreign Affairs, for sale in the complet...)

Politics

Although Ayub controlled the newspapers, dissolved political parties, and imprisoned those politicians he felt were disrupting the country, he did not make Pakistan into a police state. The civil service and the judiciary had a large measure of independence. Martial law had been imposed, Ayub insisted, only for "clearing up the political, social, economic mess" created by the corrupt politicians. Especially in the early years of his rule he was widely popular, and his policies brought rapid growth in agriculture and other sectors of the economy. The measure which he regarded as his greatest achievement was the creation of a new constitution. The first step had been the creation of basic democracies in 1960, giving the people the right to elect 80, 000 village-level representatives, who elected Ayub president. Then in 1962 he promulgated a new constitution, under which free elections were held in 1965. Ayub ran into very strong opposition from Fatima Jinnah, who, as the sister of M. A. Jinnah, was one of the most revered figures in the nation. Ayub won with 63 percent of the votes, but the support Fatima Jinnah had received indicated the growing hostility to his regime.

At the same time, charges of corruption were made against his government and his family with increasing frequency. It was alleged, apparently with considerable justification, that his sons had made vast fortunes through illegal use of their influence. Discontent was particularly strong in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), where the people felt that they had been neglected by the officials in West Pakistan.

Connections

Father:

Mir Dad Khan