Zafar Ahmad Chaudhry was born in Sialkot, Punjab, British India on 19 August 1926 to an Arain family belonging to the Ahmadiyya Movement.

[1][2] He enrolled at the Punjab University in Lahore, and graduated with bachelor's degree in 1944, and then joined the Royal Indian Air Force.

[2] After the partition of India, he subsequently went to join the Royal Pakistan Air Force, and qualified as an instructor on the North American T-6G Harvard.

[8] In 1971, Air Vice-Marshal Chaudhry was sent on secondment and was appointed managing director of the Pakistan International Airlines, which he directed until 1972.

Eventually, the decision was reversed upon being determined that the investigation was opened for inappropriate reasons, allowing the alleged officers to continue their military service in 1974.