Lieutenant-General
Sahabzada Yaqub Ali Khan (
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
: ; born 23 December 1920) is a retired 3 star rank general in the
Pakistan ArmyThe Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
who the was the international face of
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
for three decades. He served as
Foreign MinisterThe Foreign Minister of Pakistan heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current Foreign Minister is Hina Rabbani Khar who took office as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 11 February 2011, and as full Minister of Foreign Affairs on 20 July, 2011...
of
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
from 1982 to 1991 during the dying days of
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and then caretaker Foreign Minister from 1996 to 1997. Before the ministerial assignments, he was
Pakistan AmbassadorThe embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. was built in 28 August 1947, when Pakistan attained independence from Great Britain and separated from India to form the Dominion of Pakistan. From the onset, Pakistan adopted a pro-American policy with relations taking an upturn in 1954 when Pakistan...
to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, former
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
from 1972 to 1982. He was a central player in the
UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
negotiations to end the
Soviet involvement in AfghanistanThe Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was both ideologically close to and economically dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.- Saur Revolution :...
. He was later Pakistan's UN Representative. He also served as the UN's point man in negotiating an end to the Civil War in
NicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. His three star assignments includes serving as Unified Commander of
Eastern Military High CommandThe Eastern Military High Command of the Pakistan Armed Forces was a field-level military command headed by an appointed senior 3-star officer, who was designated the Unified Commander of the Eastern Military High Command...
, Vice Chief of Generals Staff, and Commandant of
Command and Staff CollegeThe Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
.
Personal life
Sahabzada Yaqub Khan is a member of the royal family of the erstwhile Indian princely state of
RampurRampur is a city and a municipality located in Rampur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Rampur district is located at Longitude 78-0-54 to 69-0-28 East and Latitude 28-25 to 29-10 North and spans an area of 2,367 km².It also gave its name to a former princely state of British...
. His father, Sahibzada Sir Abdus Samad Khan Bahadur, was a statesman and diplomat who at various points in his career served as chief minister of the state of
RampurRampur is a city and a municipality located in Rampur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Rampur district is located at Longitude 78-0-54 to 69-0-28 East and Latitude 28-25 to 29-10 North and spans an area of 2,367 km².It also gave its name to a former princely state of British...
, and as British India's representative to the
League of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
.
Sahabzada Yaqub Khan studied at the famous Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College,
Dehradun- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
. After graduating, he served in North Africa during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a
lieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the
British Indian ArmyThe British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
, taking part in the
Siege of TobrukThe siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted 240 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War...
. He was taken prisoner in 1942, and spent the next three years in an
AxisThe Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
prisoner-of-war camp before being released at the end of the war. After independence, he opted for Pakistan, where he went on to enjoy a distinguished career in the Pakistani Army. Rising to the rank
Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant General 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 normally subordinate to a Captain General....
, Yaqub Khan served as
Chief of General StaffChief of General Staff, shortly abbreviated as CGS, is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army. Although four-star Chief of Army Staff is the nominal head of the land forces, CGS is the operational and intelligence lead of the institution...
,
Commander Eastern Command, and briefly after the resignation of Vice Admiral S.M. Ahsan,
Governor of East PakistanEast Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
.
Diplomatic career
On retiring from the Army he embarked on a career as a diplomat, serving as Ambassador to France, the United States and Soviet Union from 1972 to 1982. Since 1982 he served as Foreign Minister under seven different governments. Then from 1992 until 1997 Yaqub Khan was the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative for the
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...
.
Post career
Sahabzada Yaqub Khan is the founding chairman of the
Aga Khan UniversityThe Aga Khan University is a coeducational research university spread over three continents. It was granted its charter in 1983 as Pakistan's first private, autonomous university. AKU was founded by His Highness the Aga Khan, and is part of the Aga Khan Development Network...
Board of Trustees, which he chaired for almost two decades until his retirement in 2001. He was a commissioner in the now retired Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict.
Sahabzada Yaqub Khan is married to Begum Tuba Khaleeli, of the prominent Iranian Khaleeli family of Calcutta, and has two sons, Samad and Najib.
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