Major General Muhammed Iftikhar Khan was born on 10 January 1909. He is the brother of Pakistan's first General Muhammed Akbar Khan. After attending Sandhurst he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on the Unattached List for the Indian Army on 29 August 1929. He then spent a year on attachment to the 2nd battalion the Manchester Regiment. He was posted to the 7th Light Cavalry and joined the Indian Army on 16 October 1930. He was promoted Lieutenant on 29 November 1931. He then transferred to the 3rd Cavalry on 1 October 1932, a regiment which was then in the process of being Indianised. He was promoted Captain 29 August 1938. During the late 1930s he served as first the Quarter Master then the Adjutant of this regiment. In 1942 he was attached to the No. 2 Indian Armoured Corps Training