Zulfiqar Bhutto was executed by Zia, but General Tikka Khan was spared and promptly declared himself as Secretary General of the PPP. He is popularly known as the Lion of Pakistan . He has faced accusations of killing thousands of civilians. After Tikka Khan retired from the military, he was appointed as Defense Minister by Zulfiqar Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government. In a message to the General’s son, Col. Khalid M. Khan, Benazir Bhutto, who had spent many years campaigning with the General, remembered him as a person who, “rose to the highest offices of this country due to his hard work and respect for the rule of law.”
Raja Tikka Khan was born in the village of Jochha Mamdot in Kahuta Tehsil near Rawalpindi, in 1915 (in what was then British India). At the GHQ India, Tikka Khan was often subjected to jokes by his British officers.

He was also the commander IV Corps at Lahore during the same time, a time when he earned a reputation of being a tough administrator and strict disciplinarian. President Yahya Khan after the resignation of Lieutenant-General Yaqub Khan appointed Tikka Khan as the governor of East Pakistan. He ordered the arrest of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and outlawed the Awami League and ordered the attack on the University of Dhaka at midnight. In Pakistan alone, he became to known as “soldier known for his eager use of force”; he also earned the notoriety and was nicknamed as “Butcher of Bengal”.

General Zia ordered the military police to arrest both Bhutto and General Tikka Khan and placed them under house arrest. He was laid to rest with military honours in the Westridge cemetery in Rawalpindi. He was a graduate of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, and was commissioned in 1939.He fought in World War II as part of the Indian Army, and was injured on multiple occasions during the fighting. General Tikka Khan died on March 28, 2002 after several years of illness. He was in action in numerous battles on both the Burmese and Italian fronts. However, his tenure was short and terminated when the martial law was imposed by army chief General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. Because of his role in the ensuing Operation Searchlight and Bangladesh Liberation War that began on 25 March 1971, Tikka is referred to as the “Tikka was later superseded by Lt Gen Gul Hassan Khan, when he was selected as the Commander-in-Chief in December 1971.Tikka Khan’s tenure ended in March 1976, and he was later appointed Defence Minister by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was immediately called back to Pakistan, and relinquished the unified Eastern Command to Lieutenant-General Amir Khan Niazi. After Zulfiqar Bhutto was overthrown by General Zia-ul-Haq in a coup, Tikka Khan was also arrested as a party loyalist. Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan was the architect and top planner of Operation Searchlight. Bhutto was executed in 1979, after which General Tikka Khan emerged as one of the leaders of the His British superiors had sneak suspicion that Captain Tikka Khan who was in the Academy not by merit but by favouritism. Acting on the instructions provided by President Yahya Khan’s administration, Tikka Khan began preparations of “direct-wise military operation” against the Awami League on the evening of 25 March 1971. Tikka Khan was appointed and elevated as National Security Advisor in 1976 with a status of federal minister by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

During his tenure as Chief he directly influenced an entire generation of military personnel, imbuing in them qualities of professionalism and military duty.General Tikka Khan died on March 28, 2002 after several years of illness.

Raja Tikka Khan was born in the village of Jochha Mamdot in Kahuta Tehsil near He participated in World War II and fought with the 2nd Field Regiment, Regiment of Artillery in Libya against Afrika Korps led by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in 1940. In West Pakistan, the homegrown criticism grew much farther and Tikka Khan’s action was widely disapproved that led to the President Yahya Khan replacing him with the populist civilian set-up. As such he opposed Zia’s dictatorship with resolve and led the movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) as Secretary General of PPP. He received a state burial with full military honors and his funeral was attended by thousands of people, including the entire top brass of the Pakistan Army. During the same time, he served as an infantry instructor at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. Bhutto was executed in 1979, after which General Tikka Khan emerged as one of the leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), becoming its Secretary General, during a time when many party stalwarts abandoned it. Those who murdered children and gouged the eyes of prisoners were sternly dealt with. He was also a prisoner of war for more than two years during the war, before he and his fellow troops escaped.After his return from World War II, Khan was an instructor at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun for some time. Benazir Bhutto paid him a rich tribute in the television and directed a message to Tikka Khan’s son, Colonel Khalid Khan, where Benazir Bhutto> noted that: “Tikka Khan, who had spent many years campaigning with the General “, remembered him as a person who, “rose to the highest offices of this country due to his hard work and respect for the rule of law.” He was a soldier’s soldier and lived a humble civil life after his retirement. Tikka Khan followed the classical “Seek and destroy and Infiltration” method and captured all radio stations in the East Pakistan at the price of systematic killings of Bengali people.
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s July 1977 coup led to the arrest of both Bhutto and General Tikka Khan. General Tikka was imprisoned numerous times for his political activities during the late 1970s and 1980s, until Zia-ul-Haq died in August 1988 in an airplane explosion over Bahawalpur. He was asked by name to take command of the Sialkot sector in 1965 War and successfully defeated the Indian in the Tank Battle of Chawinda. In 1976, he provided his support to After President Ayub Khan handed over the presidency to his army chief General Yahya Khan in 1969, Tikka Khan was promoted to three-star assignment and made Lieutenant-General to command the IV Corps, stationed in Lahore. He received a state burial with full military honors and his funeral was attended by thousands of people, including the entire top brass of the Pakistan Army.