Prior to that, he served as the operational field commander of the V Corps in Sindh Province and was a full-tenured professor of war studies at the National Defence University.

He was given commission as a second lieutenant in the Pakistan Army Armoured Corps in 1968 and actively participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 on the western fronts.

He also served as the chief instructor of the Armed Forces War College at the then National Defence University in Islamabad before being promoted to lieutenant general in December 2000.

On 10 June 2004, he survived an assassination attempt when his convoy was attacked by militants from the terrorist outfit Jundallah.

Lieutenant Generals Hamid Javaid, Javed Hassan, and Munir Hafiez were senior to him; hence standing superseded once Hayat was promoted.