A. A. K. Niazi

Lieutenant-General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi Hilal-e-Jurat & Bar[a] HJ & BAR[a] SPk SK MC
امیر عبداللہ خان نیازی
Niazi's official military portrait as Lieutenant General (1971)
15th Governor of East Pakistan
In office 14 December 1971 – 16 December 1971
President	Yahya Khan
Prime Minister	Nurul Amin
Preceded by	Abdul Motaleb Malik
Succeeded by	Position abolished (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as President of Bangladesh)
Personal details
Born	1915 Mianwali, Punjab Province, British India
Died	1 February 2004 (aged 88–89) Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Resting place	Military Cemetery, Lahore[citation needed]
Nationality	Pakistani
Alma mater	Officers' Training School, Bangalore Command and Staff College, Quetta
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	British India  Pakistan
Branch/service	British Indian Army  Pakistan Army
Years of service	1942–1975
Rank	Lieutenant-General (S/No. PA-477)
Unit	4th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment
Commands	Eastern Command GOC, 10th Infantry Division GOC, 8th Infantry Division 14th Para Brigade
Battles/wars	World War II Burma campaign Battle of Imphal Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Battle of Chawinda Bangladesh Liberation War Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Awards	Hilal-e-Jurat & Bar[a] Sitara-e-Pakistan Sitara-e-Kidmat Military Cross

Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi HJ & Bar SPk SK MC (1915 – 1 February 2004) commonly known as General Niazi was a Pakistani military officer. 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 on 16 December 1971, 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.^[1]

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.^{[2][self-published source?][3]}

After being 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.^[4] The Commission leveled accusations against him for human rights violations in East Pakistan and the supervision of smuggling efforts during the 1971 war; he was held responsible for Pakistan's military failure during the course of the conflict.^[5][6][7] 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.^[6]

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.^[1] In 1998, he authored the book The Betrayal of East Pakistan.

Niazi died in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan on 1 February 2004.^[8]

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