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Khan, (General) Tikka (1915-2002) military commander
of the Eastern Command who was known as the 'Butcher of Bangladesh' for
carrying out a ruthless and vicious military crackdown in Dhaka in 1971
to suppress the liberation movement in Bangladesh. Tikka Khan was born
at village Jochha Mamdot of Kahuta tehsil in the Punjab in 1915.
A graduate from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he was
commissioned in 1939. He fought in the Second World War in Burma
and the Sahara, and returned to the Academy as an instructor in
1946. After the partition of India (1947), he joined the Pakistan
Military Academy as an instructor. After graduation from Quetta's
Command and Staff College in 1949 he was made commander of an
artillery regiment. He was promoted to the rank of Major General
in 1962, made Lieutenant General in 1969.
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Tikka Khan |
During the war
of liberation of Bangladesh, Tikka Khan was relieved of the
Eastern Command. After the emergence Bangladesh in 1971, the then Prime
Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto elevated him to the rank of General
and made him the army chief on 3 March 1972. The appointment was seen
as a sign of Bhutto's willingness to use force against his opponents within
the country. General Khan's first task was to crack down on the people
of Baluchistan, and hence he was known as 'Butcher of Beluchistan'.
Following his retirement from the army in 1974, Tikka
Khan joined the Pakistan People's Party in 1976 and became Special Assistant
on national security to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Afterwards he was made Defence
Minister. During her first tenure as Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto made
Tikka Khan the governor of the Punjab province in 1988. General Tikka
Khan died on 28 March 2002. [Helal Uddin Ahmed]
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