[1] Sawar Khan was born on 1 December 1924 into a Gujjar Muslim family to Chaudhary Khuda Bukhsh, the Numberdar of Raman, Rawalpindi.

Sawar Khan who at the time was serving as Adjutant General (AG) at the GHQ was sent as the Commander XI Corps, Peshawar, where he replaced the recently superseded Lt. Gen. Majeed Malik.

He took over from Lt. Gen. Iqbal Khan who proceeded as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VOAS), a newly created post.

When Zia imposed martial law, the then Lt. Gen. Sawar Khan was sent as the governor of Punjab province in 1978, in addition to his responsibilities as Commander IV Corps, Lahore.

Sawar was a professional soldier and hailed from the Potohar plateau of north Punjab, which had been a traditional recruitment area for the British and the Pakistani armies.