Muhammad Ayub Khan (Politician, Pakistan)

Muhammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 –19 April 1974), widely known as Ayub Khan, was the President of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969. Ayub Khan assumed power through the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état, becoming the country's first Chief Martial Law Administrator. He resigned in 1969.

Trained at Sandhurst, Khan fought in World War II as an officer in the British Indian Army. He joined the armed forces of the newly formed state of Pakistan upon independence in 1947, and became its chief military commander in East Bengal. He was appointed as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951 by the then-Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, in a controversial promotion over several senior officers. President Iskander 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 relinquished the post of army chief to General Musa Khan the same year.

Ayub continued his predecessors' policy of an alliance with the United States during the Cold War, joining CENTO, and allowing the U.S. and Britain access to facilities inside Pakistan, most notably the airbase outside of Peshawar, from which U-2 intelligence flights over the Soviet Union were launched. He also strengthened military ties with neighboring China, while relations deteriorated with the Soviet Union and India. There was the five-week war in 1965 with India, ending in a United Nations-mandated ceasefire. Domestically, Ayub embraced private-sector industrialization and free-market principles, making the country one of Asia's fastest-growing economies. He built several infrastructure projects, including canals, dams and power stations, began Pakistan's space program, and gave less priority to nuclear deterrence.

After defeating Fatima Jinnah in the controversial presidential elections of 1965, Ayub's standing began to slide amid allegations of widespread vote rigging. Proceeding with a peace agreement with India to end the war, many Pakistanis considered an embarrassing compromise and demonstrations across the country over rising prices, including those led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, increased dramatically from 1967 on-wards. In 1969, Ayub resigned and handed over power to General Yahya Khan, who declared martial law for the second time. Following ill health, Ayub died in 1974. His legacy remains mixed; he is credited with economic prosperity and what supporters dub "the decade of development", but is criticized for beginning the first of the army's incursions into civilian politics, and policies that later led to the creation of Bangladesh.

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