A. A. K. Niazi

Early life and British Indian Army career Khan was born in Mianwali, British India, in 1915. He was a Pashtun in Punjab, belonging to the Niazi tribe. His village, Balo Khel, is located on the eastern bank of the Indus River. After matriculating from a local high-school in Mianwali, he joined the British Indian Army as a "Y cadet" in 1941 as he was selected for an emergency commission in the army, before it he was an ordinary soldier. He received training in Officers Training School, Bangalore and Fatehgarh's Rajput Regiment's training centre; he was commissioned as an Emergency Commissioned Officer (ECO) in the rank of second lieutenant during the World War II on 8 March 1942 (following a 6 months training) into the 4/7 Rajput Regiment (4th Battalion of the 7th Rajput Regiment) which was then a part of the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade led by Brigadier D.F.W. Warren. World War II and Burma campaigns On 11 June 1942, Lt. Niazi was stationed in the Kekrim Hills located in regions of Assam-Manipur to participate in the Burma front. In 1961, he was promoted as Brigadier and offered discussion on infiltration tactics at the Command and Staff College. Shortly after, he was appointed as the commandant of School of Infantry and Tactics in Quetta. Brigadier Niazi went on to participate in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the second war with India. He was appointed as the commander of 14th Paratroopers Brigade under 7th Infantry Division (then commanded by Maj. Gen. Yahya Khan), which later became part of the 12th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Akhtar Hussain Malik; Niazi commanded the 1st Infantry Brigade in Azad Kashmir for a brief period but later was reappointed as the commander of 14th Para Brigade in Zafarwal sector, he gained public notability when he participated in the famous Battle of Chawinda tank battle against the Indian Army which halted the Indian troops rotation. His role in a tank battle led him to be decorated with the Hilal-e-Jurat by the President of Pakistan. On 22 June 1969, Major-General Niazi was made GOC of 10th Infantry Division, stationed in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. On 2 April 1971, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, and he was to take command of the Eastern Command in East Pakistan. ==East Pakistan==

Eastern Command in 1971 war by deploying the troops at the border. Lieutenant-General Niazi volunteered for transfer to East Pakistan when Lieutenant-General Bahadur Sher declined the post. Furthermore, the mass killing of Bengali intellectuals in 1971 at the University of Dhaka had made the East Pakistani people hostile towards the Pakistani military, which made it hard for Niazi to overcome the situation. On 10/11 April 1971, he headed a meeting of his senior commanders to assess the situation but, according to eyewitnesses, he used abusive language aimed at the Bengali rebels. By June 1971, he sent reports on the rebellion and noted that 30,000 insurgents were hurriedly trained by India at the India-East Pakistan border. By September 1971, he was appointed the martial law administrator in order to provide his support to Governor Abdul Motaleb Malik who appointed a civilian cabinet. On the issue of the 1971 East Pakistan genocide, Niazi had reportedly told his public relations officer and press secretary, Major Siddique Salik, that "we will have to account every single rape and killing when back in (West) Pakistan. God never spares the Tyrant." The Government of East Pakistan appointed Niazi as commander of the Eastern Command, and Major-General Rao Farman Ali as their military adviser for the East Pakistan Rifles and Pakistan Marines. In a public message, Niazi was praised by Abdul Hamid Khan saying: "The whole nation is proud of you and you have their full support". No further orders or clarification was issued in regards to the orders as Niazi had been caught unawares when the Indian Army planned to launch a full assault on East Pakistan. Surrendering of Eastern Command under the gaze of Indian Army's Eastern Command's commander Lt. Gen. J.S. Aurora (sitting beside Niazi), on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka. When Indian Army soldiers crossed the borders and charged towards Dhaka, General Niazi panicked when he came to realise the real nature of the Indian strategy and became frantically nervous when the Indian Army successfully penetrated the defence of the East. According to testimony by Major-General Rao Farman Ali to the War Enquiry Commission, Niazi's morale collapsed as early as 7 December. Niazi broke down in tears that day when meeting Governor Abdul Motaleb Malik to deliver a progress report on the war. General Niazi, alongside with his deputy Rear-Admiral Mohammad Shariff, nervously tried reassessing the situation to hold the Indian Army's penetration by directing joint army-navy operations with no success. The Pakistani military combat units found themselves involved in a guerrilla war with the Mukti Bahini under M. A. G. Osmani. On 6 December, the Indian government extended diplomatic recognition to Bangladesh. By 8 December Indian troops reached the outskirts of Dhaka. Malik, Rao Farman Ali, and Niazi offered India a conditional ceasefire which called for transferring power in East Pakistan to an elected civilian government, but without the surrender of the Eastern Command led by Niazi. The offer was rejected by India, and was called illegitimate by President Yahya Khan. Governor Abdul Motaleb resigned from his post and he took refuge with his entire cabinet at the Red Cross shelter at the Inter-Continental Dacca on 14 December. Niazi agreed to surrender and sent a message to Sam Manekshaw despite many army officers declined to obey, although they were legally bound. The Indian Army commanders, Lieutenant General Sagat Singh, Lieutenant General J. S. Aurora, and Major-General Jacob arrived at Dhaka via helicopter with the surrender documents. Niazi in his book revealed that he was very depressed at the time of surrender and that he signed the instrument of surrender with a "very heavy heart". The revolver was reportedly stolen from the National Museum in 2003. Although it would come to light that the firearm stolen was not the real "pistol" handed over by Eastern Wing Commander A.A.K. Niazi, the real .38 Bore Revolver is currently in the safekeeping of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. ==War prisoner, repatriation, and politics==

Following the surrender, the Indian Army's Military Police flew General Niazi and Admiral Mohammad Shariff from Dhaka International Airport to Calcutta via Caribou aircraft. Being the last to return supported his reputation as a "soldier's general", but did not shield him from the scorn he faced in Pakistan, where he was blamed for the surrender. Bhutto discharged Niazi after stripping him of his military rank and his military decorations. He was dismissed from the service in July 1975. He had been denied his military pension and medical benefits and lodged a complaint against the revoking of his pension. The change of order allowed Niazi to seek a pension and the medical assistance benefits enjoyed by retired military personnel. ==War Enquiry Commission==

In 1975, Niazi was summoned and confessed to the War Enquiry Commission led by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman and the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the events involving the secession of East Pakistan in April 1971. The War Commission leveled accusations against him of several kinds of moral, ethical, and professional misconduct during his tenure in East Pakistan. It confirmed that he was engaged in paan smuggling using the official aircraft from East to West Pakistan. Many senior officers, including Rao Farman Ali, held him accountable for the committed atrocities and mass rapes committed under his command and testified. According to Major General Khadim Hussain Raja, during a meeting at the command headquarters, Niazi directly threatened Bengali women with rape by his soldiers, saying "This bastard race [Bengalis] doesn't know who I am. I will change their race." This led to the suicide of a Bengali officer at the command headquarters the next morning. Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmad Khan testified to the commission, "The troops used to say that when the Commander [Lt. Gen. Niazi] was himself a raper, how could they be stopped. Gen. Niazi enjoyed the same reputation at Sialkot and Lahore." Niazi placed the blame on the Yahya and his administration including General Tikka (whom he ultimately blamed for the army's oppressive strategy) and Maj. Gen. Farman Ali (Yahya's military adviser), Admiral S.M. Ahsan and Lieutenant-General Yakob Ali for aggravating the crisis. The Commission dismissed his claims by critically noting that General Niazi was the Supreme Commander of the Eastern Command, and that he was responsible for everything that happened in the East. Though he showed no regrets or qualms of conscience while confessing, Niazi refused to accept responsibility for the breakup of East Pakistan and squarely blamed President Yahya. The Commission endorsed his claims that Yahya was to blame, but noted that Niazi was the commander who lost the East. The Commission said, from the mass of evidence coming before it including civil and military witnesses, that there was little doubt that Niazi came to acquire a bad reputation in sex matters, and this reputation had been consistent during his postings in Sialkot, Lahore and East Pakistan. The commission recommended that Niazi be tried by court-martial by the Judge Advocate General on the most serious breaches of military disciplines and military code of honor, for total military incompetence, and on 15 additional charges. Niazi did not admit culpability for losing East Pakistan, and dared the army to court-martial him. Defence analyst Ahmad Faruqui wrote that any trial likely would have fixed blame on other senior army officers as well as Niazi. No such court-martial took place. In 1998, he authored a book, The Betrayal of East Pakistan, which describes his view of the events that led to 16 December 1971. ==Death and legacy==

Shortly after giving an interview to Views On News hosted by Shahid Masood on ARY News, Niazi died on 1 February 2004 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. He was buried in Military Graveyard in Lahore. This he called the "Niazi corridor theory" explaining "It was a corridor that the Quaid-e-Azam demanded and I will obtain it by force of arms". In a plan he presented to the central government in June 1971, he stated in his own words that "I would capture Agartala and a big chunk of Assam, and develop multiple thrusts into Indian Bengal. We would cripple the economy of Calcutta by blowing up bridges and sinking boats and ships in Hooghly River and create panic amongst the civilians. One air raid on Calcutta would set a sea of humanity in motion to get out of Calcutta”. A.R. Siddiqui wrote in Dawn newspaper: "When I last met him on 30 September 1971, at his force headquarters in Kurmitola, he was full of beans". == Awards and decorations ==

Foreign decorations ==Notes==