Tariq Jamil was born on 1 October 1953 in Mian Channu, in Pakistan's southern Punjab.[1] Jamil belongs to a well-off Punjabi Rajput family of large landholders descending from Prithviraj Chauhan, a 12th century ruler.[5] His family ruled Tulamba, a town close to Mian Channu, during the reign of Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century, who also distributed the lands around Tulamba.[6] His younger brother Dr. Muhammad Tahir Kamal Sahu is a well-known cardiologist, working at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore.[7] Jamil completed his primary education at Central Model School, Lahore. He is an alumnus of Government College University, Lahore, and received his Islamic education from Jamia Arabia, Raiwind, where he studied the Qurβan, hadiths, Sufism, logic and Islamic jurisprudence.[4][8] Jamil enrolled in King Edward Medical College after finishing a pre-medical education from Government College Lahore.