: 374 [3][4] After being educated at the Lawrence College in Murree, Shariff was commissioned in the 3rd infantry battalion of the 2nd Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1942.

[4] After the partition of India in 1947, Captain Shariff moved to join the newly formed Pakistan Army where his career progressed extremely well, having attended and graduated from the Imperial Defence College.

Shariff played a crucial role when he commanded the tactical strike brigade to remove the Nawab of Dir and Khan of Jandol to prevent secession from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

[4] On 12 December 1971, Lt-Gen. Shariff returned to Pakistan and partially took over the command of the 33rd Infantry Division, stationed in Quetta, from its GOC, Maj-Gen. Naseer Ahmad, who was wounded in action against the Indian Army.

: 67 [8] Eventually, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto promoted and elevated the junior-most Lt-Gen, Zia-ul-Haq, to the four-star appointment and appointed him as nation's second army chief in 1976.: 67 [8] Prime Minister Bhutto moved to create the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and promoted Lt-Gen. Shariff to the four-star rank, posting him as first Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee on 1 March 1976.: contents [9] His relations with Gen. Zia were limited but he seemed to dislike General Zia personally.