The Commander of the Eastern Command was the senior most appointment of Eastern Command of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

. Headed by a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, the Commander Eastern Command's primary role was to overview the military operations and implementing orders of GHQ in East Pakistan. The position was abolished following the

Pakistani Instrument of Surrender The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender () was a legal document signed between India (alongside the Provisional Government of Bangladesh) and Pakistan to end the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Per the trilateral agr ...

Background

During Yahya's tenure as

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

in 1969, he had established a corps size headquarter at

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. Though initially it was known as III Corps, it is mostly known as Eastern Command. The first person to be appointed as Commander Eastern Command was

Sahabzada Yaqub Khan Sahabzada Mohammad Yaqub Ali Khan ( ; 23 December 1920 – 26 January 2016) was a Pakistani politician, diplomat, military figure, linguist, and a retired general in the Pakistani Army. After the Partition of India in 1947, he opted for Pa ...

. The last person who held this post was A. A. K. Niazi, who took the command on 10th April 1971. He is often criticized for his military failure in

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

, as Pakistan had lost a significant part of it.

Role and Responsibilities

The Commander Eastern Command was the top military figure in

. His primary job was to keep peace, handle anti-rebellion efforts, protect the region and implement the direct orders from GHQ. During the 1971 conflict, his duties extended to fighting against the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini, initially called the Mukti Fauj, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was a big tent armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military personnel, paramilitary personnel and civilians during the Ba ...

& Pro Bengali rebels and working with East Pakistan’s civilian government to protect the sovereignty and suppress the

movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

. The Commander reported directly to the

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

, General Hamid Khan, in Rawalpindi and worked closely with the President of Pakistan, Yahya Khan and the central government. During martial law, the Commander of Eastern Command often held significant political authority in addition to their military role.

List of Commanders

Notable events

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was a military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the operation on the basis of ant ...

(March 1971): Initiated by Lieutenant General

Tikka Khan Tikka Khan, also known as the Butcher of Bengal.Tikka Khan title: * * * * * * * * (; 10 February 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a Pakistani military officer and war criminal who served as the first Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan), chief of the a ...

, this military operation aimed to suppress the Bengali nationalist movement but resulted in widespread atrocities and increased resistance from the Mukti Bahini. *

(April – December 1971): The Eastern Command, under Lieutenant General A. A. K. Niazi, faced a full-scale insurgency supported by India, leading to a decisive defeat and the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops in December 1971.

References

{{Reflist Military in East Pakistan Pakistan Army appointments Chiefs of Army Staff, Bangladesh