Tikka Khan

Who was Tikka Khan?

General Tikka Khan, HJ, HQA, SPk, 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. 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, 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.