Muhammad Ayub Khan

Muhammad Ayub Khan (1907-1974), president of Pakistan (1958-1969). He was born on May 14, 1907, in Rehanna in the North-West Frontier Province, then in British India, and educated at Alīgarh Muslim University and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the British Indian Army in 1928, he held numerous command and administrative positions under British rule. After Pakistan gained independence in 1947, he rose rapidly to become commander in chief of the Pakistani army in 1951. From 1954 to 1955 he also served as minister of defense.

When President Iskander Mirza declared martial law in 1958, he made Ayub its chief administrator. Shortly afterward Ayub assumed the full powers of president, and he was confirmed in office by referendum in 1960. He introduced a system of so-called basic democracies, consisting of tiered local government units, which doubled as electoral colleges; he was reelected under this system in 1965. After a brief war with India in 1965, however, his popularity slipped rapidly, and he was forced to resign in March 1969. He spent his remaining years in retirement and died at his home near Islāmābād, on April 19, 1974.