Ruling classes v the people of Pakistan

What got you interested in the Pakistani military?
It was partly a result of watching war films in cinemas as a child with my parents, who were too modest to watch romances with their young daughter. It was under considerable family pressure that I sat for the civil-service examination in 1987. After an MA in War Studies at the King's College in London, I did my PhD. I returned to Pakistan in 1996, and was assigned the department of Military Accounts, and later to the Pakistan Railways and Defence Audit. My academic engagement with the Naval War College, in Islamabad, as a guest lecturer, and my research on defence and strategic issues, enabled my interactions with senior officers in the armed forces

At what point did you quit the civil service?
In 2001, I decided to quit the civil service, as I felt compelled to devote more time to scholarly writings rather than sitting in the government. Based on my doctoral dissertation, my first book, Pakistan's Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-1999 was coming out. I had also been contributing to several of the leading defence journals. But my status as a government servant was proving limiting to my academic career, and I eventually resigned in 2001. Apart from working as an independent consultant and holding several overseas fellowships, I served as visiting research fellow with the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.