After the war, Abdul Hamid Khan was promoted to Lieutenant General and served as the commander of I Corps, then based in Kharian (it is currently based in Mangla).[8] After martial law was imposed by General Yahya Khan on 25 March 1969, Lt Gen Hamid Khan was made the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army and Deputy Martial Law Administrator of the country.[9] During that time he briefly held the cabinet portfolio of Home Affairs for four months. He was promoted to full general on August 1969 and was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Army or in other sense the de facto commander-in-chief of the army in place of Yahya as he was the President.