[6][7] Rahman was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on the Special List, Indian Land Forces on 15 July 1936 and was attached to the 2nd battalion of Duke of Wellington's Regiment from 10 August 1936.

[8] He was appointed to the British Indian Army and was posted to 1st Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment, which was called "Sher Dil Paltan" on 10 August 1937.

He left Secunderabad on 3 March 1941 for Penang Island and from there to Ipoh, north of Kuala Lumpur in Malaya.

After about two months stay at Ipoh, their Battalion moved to Sungei Pattani in South Kedah as a part of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade under Brigadier Ragnar Garrett.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Singapore on the early morning of 7 December 1941, the United States declared war on Japan.

Major Fujiwara addressing the POWs expressed that it was his firm belief that world peace and the liberation of Asia could not be achieved and maintained without a free and independent India.

Rahman inculcated amongst the prisoners the feelings of national unity, discipline and keen sense of duty through daily lectures personally delivered by him.

The first review of INA was held at Singapore Padang in front of the Municipal Buildings on 2 October 1942, Rahman attended this function as an observer.

When Netaji arrived on 2 July 1943 in Singapore and the Army was enlarged in December 1943, Rahman was transferred to be the 2nd-in-Command of the 5th Guerilla Regiment.

On 15 July 1944 they left Jitra for onward journey Kawashi,[b] Mergui and Tavoy through Thailand and then to Moulmein and Rangoon in Burma.

The Nehru Brigade was deployed in the Myingyan area with the object of defending it against enemy attack, which appeared imminent consequent on their withdrawal from Imphal.

Towards end of 1944, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose gave Rahman the command of 4th Guerrilla Regiment also called the Nehru Brigade.

After the failure at Pagan the enemy tried another assault crossing opposite Nyaungu by using outboard motors and rubber boats.

On 23 February 1945, Col. Shah Nawaz visited the Commander of Khanjo Butai and discussed co-ordination of Indo-Japanese operations in the Popa and Kyauk Padaung area.

Rahman's Regiment, the 4th Guerrilla, was assigned the duty to check the enemy advance on to Kyauk Padaung from the west, where the British had established a strong bridgehead at Nyaungu.

This was to be achieved by carrying out an extensive and persistent guerrilla warfare in the area between Popa, Kyauk Padaung line in the east and as far forward towards the Irrawaddy as possible as to deny the enemy the use of Nyaungu-Kyauk-Padaullg-Meiktila metalled road for supplying reinforcements and supplies to his forces fighting in the battle of Meiktila.

On 4 April 1945 his Division Commander, Colonel Shah Nawaz Khan, asked Rahman to return from Khabok to Popa.

Eleven days after leaving Prome, they reached at village called Wata about 30 km (20 mi) west of Pegu.

It is believed that he was en route to the Soviet Union in a Japanese plane when it crashed in Taiwan, burning him fatally.

On the August 1945, Shah Nawaz, Sahgal, Dhillon and Rahman were jointly summoned to the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre for the first time.

At the conclusion of the war, the government of British India brought some of the captured INA soldiers to trial on treason charges.

The prisoners would potentially face the death penalty, life imprisonment or a fine as punishment if found guilty.

The four defendants were defended by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai and others based on the defence that they should be treated as prisoners of war as they were not paid mercenaries but bonafide soldiers of a legal government, the Provisional Government of Free India, or the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind, "however misinformed or otherwise they had been in their notion of patriotic duty towards their country" and as such they recognised the free Indian state as their sovereign and not the British sovereign.

The historical trial of Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, Prem Kumar Sahgal, Shah Nawaz Khan and Habib ur Rahman at the Red Fort began on 5 November 1945 by a General Court Martial for the charge of waging war against the King.

People gave voice to their resentment on the trials by shouting: Lal Qile se aaee awaz, Sahgal Dhillon Habib Shah Nawaz, Charoon ki ho umar daraz

(Meaning – Comes the voice from the Red Fort Sahgal, Dhillon, Habib, Shah Nawaz, May the Four live long)New Year's Eve, 31 December 1945, was the last day of trial.

Major General, Shah Nawaz Khan, headed the committee, whose members included Suresh Chandra Bose.

After Independence Muhammad Ali Jinnah was delighted with Rahman joining the government service and advised him in writing to visit and report about the current situation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar.

He worked in several positions such as the Deputy Commissioner of Bannu, Chief Administrator of Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), Additional Defence Secretary in the Government of Pakistan, and as a member of the Azad Kashmir Council.

In recognition of his contribution to the "independence movement" the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government awarded Rahman the following honours: The Degree college of Bhimber is named after him.