 After matriculating from a local high school in Jhang, he was admitted at the Government College University in Lahore in 1950 but left his university studies after being selected for the military service exam in 1952.In 1954, he joined the Pakistan Navy, commissioned as Midshipman and was sent to the United Kingdom to attend the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England.He shared his dormitory with army cadet Imranullah Khan who would also ascended into being a three-star army general.