During the First World War, he initially worked as a War Recruitment Officer in his native Attock district and later served as one of the first Indian officers to receive the King's Commission, with the 2/67th Punjabis (later the 1/2nd Punjab Regiment). As a result of his distinguished services in the Great War and later, the Third Afghan War, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (MBE, Mil.) by the Government of British India.