The 3rd president of Pakistan was General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, who held power from 25 March 1969 to 20 December 1971 — the shortest and most traumatic presidency in the country’s history, ending with the loss of East Pakistan.
Quick answer: The 3rd president of Pakistan was Yahya Khan (25 March 1969 – 20 December 1971). He held Pakistan’s first general election (1970), launched the 1971 military operation in East Pakistan, lost the December 1971 war with India, and handed power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after Dhaka’s fall.
In this guide
Taking Power
Born in 1917 in Chakwal, Yahya Khan rose through the army to become commander-in-chief. When Ayub Khan resigned on 25 March 1969, he handed power to Yahya — who imposed Pakistan’s second martial law, abrogated the 1962 Constitution and promised free elections on the basis of one man, one vote.
The 1970 Election
The December 1970 general election — Pakistan’s first — gave Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League an absolute majority (167 of 313 seats), all from East Pakistan, while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP swept the west. Yahya’s regime, unwilling to transfer power to Mujib, postponed the National Assembly session — the trigger for the crisis. Negotiations in Dhaka collapsed in March 1971.
1971: The Breaking Year
On 25 March 1971 the army launched Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan; Mujib was arrested and the independence movement became a war. India intervened in December; Pakistani forces surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971, and Bangladesh was born. Four days later, on 20 December 1971, Yahya handed the presidency to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — the 4th president — and was placed under house arrest. He died in 1980, Pakistan’s most reviled ruler.
Legacy and Assessment
Historians rank Yahya Khan as Pakistan’s most damaging ruler: the man who presided over the country’s breakup. His defenders argue he inherited an impossible situation and genuinely tried to transfer power; his critics reply that the March 1971 crackdown made breakup inevitable. Either way, his 33-month presidency is taught in Pakistan as a cautionary tale about military rule — and about what happens when election results are defied. The Hamoodur Rahman Commission’s report on the 1971 defeat, declassified in part decades later, remains the official post-mortem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Yahya Khan resign?
The surrender in Dhaka on 16 December 1971 ended his authority. With the army defeated and the country broken in two, he transferred power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 20 December 1971.
Who succeeded Yahya Khan as president?
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who became the 4th president of Pakistan on 20 December 1971 — Pakistan’s first civilian head of state.
 — the 1970 election, the 1971 war and the fall of Dhaka.){kind=link}