Muhammad Ayub Khan

Muhammad Ayub Khan (1907-1974), president of Pakistan (1958-1969). He was born on May 14, 1907, in Rehanna in the Northwest Frontier Province, then in British India, and educated at Aligarh Muslim University and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, 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 defence.

When President Iskander Mirza declared martial law in 1958, he made Ayub its chief administrator. Shortly afterwards Ayub assumed the full powers of president, exiling Mirza, 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 re-elected 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 Islamabad, on April 19, 1974.