Sahabzada Yaqub Khan

Lieutenant General Sahabzada Mohammad Yaqub Ali Khan SPk (23 December 1920 – 26 January 2016) was a Pakistani politician, diplomat, military figure, linguist, and a retired general in the Pakistani Army.

Mohammad Yaqub Ali Khan was born into Indian nobility into the Rohilla Branch of the Kheshgi family Pashtuns tribe in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, British Indian Empire on 23 December 1920.

He had also been a close relative of the family of the Nawabs of Kasur, of Punjab.

His father, Sir Abdus Samad Khan was an aristocrat and politician who served as Chief Minister of Rampur, and as British India's representative to the League of Nations.

He was educated at the Rashtriya Indian Military College at Dehradun, then the Indian Military Academy and gained a commission in British Indian Army in 1940 and attached to the 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry.

In his military career he saw action during World War II and served in the North African Campaign where he was attached to 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry from April 1942.

He was taken POW in North Africa in May 1942.

In September 1943 he escaped from the Italian Prisoner of War camp P. G. 91 in Avezzano (with two other Indian officers) and was out for four to five months attempting to move south to Allied lines, but they were subsequently re-captured by German forces who put him in a Prisoner of War camp in Germany until April 1945 when he was released by the U.S. Army soldiers.

During his time in German custody, he learnt languages by interacting with fellow prisoners and reading literature in those languages.

Upon returning to India in 1945, he was selected as an adjutant to Field Marshal Lord Wavell with an army rank of major.

After hearing the news of partition of India and creation of Pakistan, he decided to opt for Pakistan, and initially was selected as Aide-de-camp to Muhammad Ali Jinnah– the first Governor-General of Pakistan.

After the Partition of British India in 1947, he opted for Pakistan and joined the Pakistan Army where he participated in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.

He was the commander of the army's Eastern Command in East Pakistan.

It was then-Lieutenant S.M. Ahsan who was made the ADC at the behest of Lord Mountbatten, and Yaqub was appointed as commandant of the Governor-General's bodyguard for the first Governor-General which he led until 1948.

In the period 1948–49, he attended the short one-year course at the Command and Staff College at Quetta and graduated with a staff officer's degree.

In 1951, he served in the Military Intelligence (MI) as lieutenant-colonel, and directed initiatives to analytical branch of the ISI for the whereabouts of the Indian Army but he reportedly struggled with providing factual intelligence that was provided to ISI.

He commanded the 11th Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force), Armoured Corps from December 1952 to October 1953.

He was promoted to colonel in 1953 and went to Paris in France to attend the famed École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr where he graduated in 1954.

Upon returning to Pakistan, he was promoted to Brigadier in 1955 where he served as a chief instructor at the Command and Staff College.

In 1958, he was appointed as the vice Chief of General Staff at the Army GHQ and later becoming the Commandant of the Command and Staff College in Quetta in 1960.

In 1960 he was promoted to major-general and commanded the 1st Armoured Division of Armoured Corps and was said to have a portrait of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in his office.

As an armored commander, he arranged a course on philosophy on the Panzer doctrine to educate the armoured division on the tank battles and strategies.

He participated in the war against India in 1965, having command of his 1st Armoured Division.

He helped develop the operational planning of the armoured vehicular warfare deployments against the Indian Army advances in Punjab and presented his views at the Army GHQ.

Soon after, he was appointed as Director-General Military Operations (DGMO) by General Musa Khan and directed all formats of ground operations during the 1965 war against India.

After the war, he was appointed as Chief of General Staff at the Army GHQ under army chief General Yahya Khan in 1966 and remained until 1969.

He was appointed as Governor of East Pakistan in 1969 and 1971 but recalled to Pakistan after he submitted his resignation amid civil unrest.

In 1969, Lieutenant-General Yaqub Khan was posted to East Pakistan as the commander of Eastern Command in Dacca by President Yahya Khan and helped evaluate the command rotation of the Eastern military.

Soon, he was appointed as Governor of East Pakistan where he began learning the Bengali language and became accustomed to Bengali culture.

He was highly respected by the East Pakistani military officers due to his stance and professionalism and was said to be very well liked and respected in the East.

He was known to be an unusual military officer who knew very well about "limits of force", and did not believe in the use of brute force to settle political disputes.

In 1969–71, he worked together with Admiral Ahsan in advising the Yahya administration in an effort to resolve the situation and restricted strictly the proposal of usage of military force in the province.

At the cabinet meeting, he was often fierce and strictly resisted the usage of military option but was respected in the military due to his understanding of Bengali issues and whose colleagues often labeled him as "Bingos."

In 1970, he notably coordinated the relief operations when the disastrous cyclone had hit the state and gained prestige for his efforts in the country.{

In 1971, he participated in the area contingency and fact-finding mission, which was known as the Ahsan–Yaqub Mission, to resolve the political deadlock between East Pakistan and Pakistan as both men argued that "military measures would not change the political situations".

In March 1971, he became aware of the rumors of a military action against East Pakistanis and delivered desperate military signals to President Yahya Khan in Islamabad to not use military solution as he feared Indian intervention.

In 1973, he joined the Foreign Service and was appointed as the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States and later ascended as Foreign Minister, serving under President Zia-ul-Haq in 1982.

His stint as Foreign Minister played a major role in the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan (1979–89) and he took part in negotiations to end the Contras in Nicaragua (1981–87) on the behalf of the United Nations.

In the 1990s, he served as an official of the United Nations for Western Sahara until he was reappointed as Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

After retiring from diplomatic services in 1997, he spent his remaining years in Islamabad and died in Islamabad in 2016.