Ayub Khan (Field Marshal) Bio
Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)
Muhammad Ayub Khan (Urdu: ???? ???? ???; May 14 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani politician and field marshal, serving as the second President of Pakistan as well as its first military dictator from 1958 until his resignation on 1969.
A self-appointed field marshal,[2] the only such five-star rank in Pakistan's military history, he was appointed the first chief martial law administrator by President Iskander Mirza in 1958, a post he retained until the promulgation of a new constitution in 1962.
Born in Haripur, British India, Ayub graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1928. After fighting in World War II as a British Indian Army officer, he opted for the new state of Pakistan while stationed in East Pakistan in 1947. He was appointed the country's first native commander-in-chief in 1951 by then-Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, in a controversial promotion over several senior officers.
President Mirza's decision to declare martial law in 1958 was supported by Ayub, whom Mirza declared chief martial law administrator.Two weeks later, Ayub deposed Mirza in a bloodless coup and assumed the presidency.[He thereafter relinquished the post of army chief to General Musa Khan the same year.