Jilani was born in Sibi, Balochistan, when the British ruled the Indian subcontinent. He was educated at Forman Christian College in Lahore and later finished Law at Aligarh University in India. He completed his officer’s training at the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun in India and was commissioned as second lieutenant on to the Special List, Indian Land Forces on 1 February 1936 and attached to the 2nd battalion the Royal Scots Regiment on 24 February 1936 for a years experience before joining his Indian Army regiment. He was accepted for the Indian Army on 24 February 1937 and posted to the 4th battalion 19th Hyderabad Regiment. His seniority as a second lieutenant was antedated to 3 February 1935 and he was promoted Lieutenant 3 May 1937. He was later appointed acting Captain and then appointed Adjutant of the 4/19th 1 October 1940..
Captured at Singapore
During the Second World War the 4th battalion 19th Hyderabad Regiment was sent to Singapore with the British Indian Army and he was captured and taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942. He was a prisoner of war for nearly forty months. He was tortured and kept in solitary confinement for seven months during this period. Whilst a prisoner of war he was promoted Captain. He was mention in despatches in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Malaya in 1942. Shortly after World War II, the movement for independence from the British resulted in the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Jilani threw his energy and enthusiasm behind it.
He joined the newly formed Pakistan Army and was the 42nd senior most officer, commanding a unit of the Frontier Force Regiment. A few weeks later he took a leave of absence from the army to volunteer as a fighter in Kashmir, fighting for its independence and right to join Pakistan. In April 1948, he was appointed Commanding Officer at Gilgit where he remained until the ceasefire. His troops played a major role in establishing what became the line of control between India and Pakistan, which has become a sort of international border for the last half-century. He fought a guerrilla war in northern Kashmir, engaged two divisions of the Indian Army and conquered the whole of Baltistan and was about to attack Leh, when the government of Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire at the behest of the United Nations.
Relations with the United States
In 1952, as a Brigadier, he went to Washington as Pakistan’s first Military Attaché to the US in Washington. He was also Military Attache for Canada and Mexico. He brought about the military aid treaty between the United States and Pakistan, for which in 1955 he was awarded the Legion of Merit by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam, or Star of the Quaid, named after the founder of Pakistan.
After retiring from the army, he entered politics and became a member of the provincial assembly in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He was an outspoken critic of the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. On retirement from the army, he was hired by Fakhrudin Valika as a General Manager with the Valika Group in Karachi, until his entry into politics. He joined the National Awami Party, and was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa from his home constituency in Swabi in the General Elections of 1970. During his National Awami Party years, he was the head of the Zalmay Pakhtun, and was arrested by the Pakistan Peoples Party government on 15 February 1973. His wife Mrs. Nancy Habiba Jilani filed a writ petition against his detention, and the judgment of the Lahore High Court was authored by Nasim Hasan Shah, J. and is reported as: Mrs. Habiba Jilani V Federation of Pakistan A smear campaign was launched against him. In a crackdown on his party, Jilani was arrested in 1973. Bhutto then attempted to bribe Jilani with offers of high positions—all to no avail. He was frequently arrested, but all charges against him were repeatedly dismissed by the courts. Amnesty International adopted him as a "prisoner of conscience" in 1974. In jail, Jilani managed to escape from his guards during a hospital visit in 1975 and got political asylum in the United States. He became a US citizen in 1981, and died at his daughter's home in Fairfax, Virginia on 1 March 2004. Member Provincial Assembly 1970–77
