On 7 March 1971 , Governor East Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan and Eastern Commander Lieutenant-General Yaqub Ali Khan were relieved of their respected post , leaving to Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan who initiated the massive military crackdown after the raid in the Dhaka University . Air Cdre Masud suffered with high-level of local defections in his own staff when Air Cdre Masud 's Officer Commanding ( Admin . Wing ) Gp Capt A. K. Khandker defected to India in an official plane in May 1971 . This was followed by the defection of Wg . Cdr Hamidullah Khan and Sqn Ldr M.G. Tawab who joined the Indian Air Force against the PAF in East . During Operation Blitzkrieg , Masud refused an order to dispatch an air strike against armed civilians
raid in the
1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals
Zafar Masud