A. A. K. Niazi

Khan was born in Mianwali, British India, in 1915, into a Niazi tribe.

His village, Balo Khel, is located on the eastern bank of the Indus River.

After matriculating from a local high-school in Mianwali, he joined the British Indian Army as a "Y cadet" in 1941 as he was selected for an emergency commission in the army, before it he was an ordinary soldier.

He received training in Officers Training School, Bangalore and Fatehgarh's Rajput Regiment's training centre; he was commissioned as an Emergency Commissioned Officer (ECO) in the rank of second lieutenant during the World War II on 8 March 1942 (following a 6 months training) into the 4/7 Rajput Regiment (4th Battalion of the 7th Rajput Regiment) which was then a part of the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade led by Brigadier D.F.W. Warren.

On 11 June 1942, Lt.

Niazi was stationed in the Kekrim Hills located in regions of Assam-Manipur to participate in the Burma front.

At the Burma front in 1944, Lt. Niazi impressed his superior officers when he commanded a platoon that initiated an offence against the Imperial Japanese Army at the Bauthi-Daung tunnels.

Lt. Niazi's gallantry had impressed his British commanders in the GHQ India and they wanted to award him the Distinguished Service Order, but his rank was not high enough for such a decoration.

After the end of World War II, in 1945, from an Emergency Commissioned Officer, Niazi was granted a regular commission of the British Indian Army, and he got his service number as IC0-906 (Indian Commissioned Officer-906); he was promoted to captain and sent to attend the Command and Staff College in Quetta which he graduated with a staff course degree under then-Lt.

Col. Yahya Khan.

In 1947 the United Kingdom, through the Indian Independence Act 1947, announced their intention of partitioning British India amid the failure of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India.

After the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, Major Niazi decided to opt for Pakistani citizenship and joined the newly established Pakistan Army where his S/No was redesigned as PA–477 by the Ministry of Defence of Pakistan and he joined the Punjab Regiment.

He continued serving at the Command and Staff College in Quetta and briefly completed his tenure as an instructor.

His career in the army progressed well.

In the rank of Lt. Col. he served as commanding officer of two battalions in West Pakistan and one in East Pakistan.

He served as the commander of 51st Infantry Brigade in Karachi and was decorated with the Sitara-i-Khidmat (lit. Service Star) for his contributions and service with the army.

His leadership credentials had led him to be appointed martial law administrator of both Karachi and Lahore to maintain control of law in the cities of West Pakistan during this time.

Shortly after, he was appointed as the commandant of School of Infantry and Tactics in Quetta.

In 1961, he was promoted as Brigadier and offered discussion on infiltration tactics at the Command and Staff College.

Subsequently, he published an article on infiltration and promoted talks on military-supported local rebellion against the enemy.

Brigadier Niazi went on to participate in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the second war with India.

After the war, he remained active in Pakistani politics and supported an ultra-conservative agenda under the Pakistan National Alliance against the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he commanded the Pakistani Eastern Command in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), he signed the instrument of surrender as in 16 Dec. '71 his forces had to surrender to the Indian Army's Eastern Command's commander Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora by the order of the then President of Pakistan Yahya Khan.

Niazi's area of responsibility comprised the defense of East Pakistan from India during the war in 1971, and authors and critics within the Pakistani military held him morally responsible for his decision to unilaterally surrender the Pakistani Eastern Command, which resulted in the war's end in a decisive Indian victory as well as the independence of Bangladesh.

After being taken and held as a prisoner of war by the Indian military, he was repatriated to Pakistan on 30 April 1975 as part of the Delhi Agreement.

He was dishonourably discharged from his military service at the War Enquiry Commission led by Hamoodur Rahman.

The Commission leveled accusations against him for human rights violations in East Pakistan and the supervision of smuggling efforts during the Bangladesh Liberation War; he was held responsible for Pakistan's military failure during the course of the conflict.

Niazi, however, rejected these allegations and sought a military court-martial while insisting that he had acted according to the orders of the Pakistan Army GHQ in Rawalpindi; the court-martial was never granted.

In 1998, he authored the book The Betrayal of East Pakistan.

Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi (1915 – 1 February 2004) was a Pakistani military officer.

Niazi died in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, on 1 February 2004.

That spring, he was part of the 14th Army of the British Indian Army commanded by General William Slim.

During this period, the 14th Army had halted the offense against the Imperial Japanese Army at the Battle of Imphal and elsewhere in bitterly fought battles along the Burma front.

His valor of actions were commendable and General Slim described his gallantry in a lengthy report to General Headquarters, India, about his judgment of the best course of action.

They agreed on Niazi's skill in completely surprising the enemy, his leadership, coolness under fire, and his ability to change tactics, create diversions, extricate his wounded men.

He was appointed as the commander of 14th Paratroopers Brigade under 7th Infantry Division (then commanded by Maj. Gen. Yahya Khan), which later became part of the 12th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Akhtar Hussain Malik; Niazi commanded the 1st Infantry Brigade in Azad Kashmir for a brief period but later was reappointed as the commander of 14th Para Brigade in Zafarwal sector, he gained public notability when he participated in the famous Battle of Chawinda tank battle against the Indian Army which halted the Indians troops rotation.

His role in a tank battle led him to be decorated with the Hilal-e-Jurat by the President of Pakistan.

After the war he was again took command of the School of Infantry and Tactics.

During the campaign, Brigadier D.F.W. Warren, commander of the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade of the British Army, gave Niazi the soubriquet "Tiger" for his part in a ferocious fight with the Japanese.

After the conflict, the British Government decorated Lt. Niazi with the Military Cross for leadership, judgement, quick thinking and calmness under pressure in action along the border with Burma.