Ayub Khan

Ayub Khan

Ayub Khan was the first military ruler of Pakistan, serving as the second President of Pakistan (1958-1969). He allied Pakistan with U.S military alliance against the Soviet Union. As a result, Pakistan received immense economic aid from Europe and America which lead to growth in the Pakistani economy.

Ayub maintained icy relations with India. He established close political and military ties with Communist China exploiting its differences with Soviet Russia and its 1962 war with India. China still remains a strong military, economic and political ally of Pakistan.

The turning point of his rule was the Indo- Pakistani war of 1965. At the end of the war, many Pakistanis perceived the that the performance of the military was good and therefore criticised Ayub Khan for signing the Tashkent Agreement which they believe negated the victory at the battlefield, with a defeat at the negotiating table. Ayub Khan’s right hand man, Zulfikar Bhutto also turned against him and launched his own party, the Pakistan People’s Party. The Awami league under Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman started propagating his rule as pro West Pakistan and claimed that his policies had snatched away the Bengali's rights. The rest of the political parties formed an alliance, the Democratic Action Committee, with an agenda to remove Ayub Khan's government. Public resentment reached a tipping point in 1968 and an anti – Ayub movement was launched by the urban middle class. Demonstrations and protests swept the country and the decreasing law and order forced Ayub Kahn to resign and hand over power to hand over power to the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army, General Muhammad Yahya Khan.