Tikka Khan

Tikka Khan, HJ, HQA, SPk, (Punjabi, Urdu: ٹکا خان‎; 7 July 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a 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. After retiring from the Army he was appointed to the cabinet position of Defense and Security Advisor in Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto's administration. He, along with Secretary General of Defense Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan oversaw the genesis of Pakistan's nuclear weapons project in Kahuta according to Dr. A.Q. Khan. Coincidentally, the decision to construct A.Q. Khan's lab in Kahuta was made in the days of Gen Tikka who was from Kahuta. (see early life).

Prior to Tikka's appointment, the Chief of Army Staff (head of the army) was designated as Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army. Before the four-star assignment (in 1971), Tikka Khan was a Martial Law Administrator of erstwhile East-Pakistan (later, Bangladesh). He succeeded Air Commodore Mitty Masud, and assumed the command of Eastern Military High Command on 26 March 1971. As a Commander of Eastern Command, (then) Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan was the architect and top planner of Operation Searchlight. He became Chief of the Army, Member of Bhutto's cabinet, Governor of a Province and leader of the Pakistan People's Party. He was buried with full military honors upon his death in Pakistan.