Tikka Khan General Tikka Khan , HJ , HQA , SPk , ( Punjabi , ; July 7 , 1915 – March 28 , 2002 ) was a senior four - star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the first Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 3 March 1972 to 1 March 1976 . Before his four - star assignment , Khan was a Martial Law Administrator of erstwhile East - Pakistan ( later , Bangladesh ) . He succeeded Brigadier - General Mitty Masud , and assumed the command of Eastern Military High Command on March 26 , 1971 . As a Commander of Eastern Command , ( then ) Lieutenant - General Tikka Khan was the architect and top planner of Operation Searchlight . He is still remembered as the " Butcher of Bengal " for his ruthlessness against separatists and brutality inflicted in the erstwile East Pakistan , in the remaining Pakistan . He got his first Butcher title " Butcher of Balochistan " because of his infamous atrocities in Balochistan in 1970 . Early life and education . General Tikka Khan was born in a Narma Rajput family in the village of Jochha Mamdot in Kahuta Tehsil near Rawalpindi , in 1915 ( in what was then British India ) . He was a graduate of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun , and was commissioned on 22 December 1940 . World War II and British Army Career . He fought in World War II as part of the Indian Army . After his return from World War II , Khan was an instructor at the Indian Military Academy at " Dehradun " for some time . During the independence , Major Tikka Khan remained in what is now Pakistan , and became an officer in the Pakistan Army . Career with Pakistan Army . After Independence , he served in only one Artillery Regiment of Royal Pakistan Artillery , where he raised and commanded the first post partition Medium Regiment of Royal Pakistan Artillery , i . e . , 12 Medium Regiment Artillery . He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 1962 . Between the wars . Tikka Khan was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant - General in August 1969 . He was then posted as commander IV Corps at Lahore , where he stayed till March 1971 . By virtue of Yahya Khan ' s martial law , Tikka Khan was also the Martial Law Administrator , Zone A ( West Pakistan ) . He had replaced Lt Gen Attiqur Rahman as the MLA and left the post to Lt Gen Bahadur Sher in March 1971 . Lahore ' s Fortress Stadium was constructed under General Tikka Khan ' s tenure as corps commander . Tikka Khan left for Dhaka in March 1971 , where he was to take charge as the commander of the Eastern Command , Martial Law Administrator , Zone B ( East Pakistan ) , and Governor of East Pakistan . Tikka Khan was a Major - General at the time of 1965 Pak - India war and was posted at Sialkot . 1971 Crisis and Bangladesh War . The 1970 elections in East Pakistan and West Pakistan resulted in a situation where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ' s Awami League won 167 of the 169 seats in East Pakistan , whereas Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ' s Pakistan Peoples Party ( PPP ) won 81 seats out of 138 in West Pakistan . Although , as the leader of the majority party , Mujib was supposed to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan , Bhutto was not ready to accept and refused to sit in the National Assembly as opposition party . General Yahya Khan , President of Pakistan , influenced by Bhutto to keep the Bengalis from rising to power , postponed the National Assembly session . Mujib , in a public rally in Dhaka on March 7 , called upon the Bengalis to launch movement against the Pakistan regime . In this circumstance , Tikka was sent out to put down the unrest swelling in East Pakistan . Tikka took over Eastern Command ( equivalent to a reinforced Corps ) on 7 March 1971 after the previous commander Lt Gen Sahabzada Yaqub Khan resigned . Tikka directed the brutal military crackdown ( officially known as Operation Searchlight ) on 25 March with the help of Major General Rao Farman Ali and other Army generals that stunned the Bengalis with gross violence , atrocities and massive human rights abuse . He was the leading commander of the II Corps responsible for the defence on the Western front of the War in 1971 . After a brief stay in East Pakistan , he was then posted as the first commander II Corps at Multan and commanded through the actual Indo - Pakistan conflict in December 1971 . Post retirement . Tikka Khan ’ s tenure ended in March 1976 , and he was later appointed Defence Minister by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto . Muhammad Zia - ul - Haq ' s July 1977 coup led to the arrest of both Bhutto and General Tikka Khan . Bhutto was executed in 1979 , after which General Tikka Khan emerged as one of the leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party ( PPP ) , becoming its Secretary General , during a time when many party stalwarts abandoned it . General Tikka was imprisoned numerous times for his political activities during the late 1970s and 1980s , until Zia - ul - Haq died in August 1988 in an airplane explosion over Bahawalpur . Despite Tikka ' s political inclinations , many of Tikka ' s army protégés such as Sawar Khan , Iqbal Khan and Rahimuddin Khan were promoted to Full General and remained on deferential terms with him . General Tikka Khan was appointed the Governor of Pakistan ’ s largest province , the Punjab , in December 1988 . His tenure as the Governor was cut short by the dismissal of the Benazir Bhutto government in August 1990 , after which he retired from active politics . Later life and death . General Tikka Khan died on March 28 , 2002 after several years of illness . He received a state burial with full military honors and his funeral was attended by thousands of people , including the entire top brass of the Pakistan Army . In a message to the General ' s son , Col . Khalid M . Khan , Benazir Bhutto , who had spent many years campaigning with the General , remembered him as a person who , " rose to the highest offices of this country due to his hard work and respect for the rule of law . " Further reading . Zaheer , Hasan : " The separation of East Pakistan : The rise and realization of Bengali Muslim nationalism , " Oxford University Press , 1994 . Sisson , Richard & Rose , Leo : " War and secession : Pakistan , India , and the creation of Bangladesh " , University of California Press ( Berkeley ) , 1990 . Matinuddin , General Kamal : " Tragedy of Errors : East Pakistan Crisis , 1968 - 1971 " , Wajidalis , Lahore , Pakistan , 1994 . Salik , Siddiq : " Witness to surrender " , Oxford University Press , Karachi , Pakistan , 1977 . External links .