Writer on Pakistan with world-respected knowledge of the country's militants, military, intelligence services, ethnic groups and political parties, including the MQM. He has worked for the BBC and was a visiting Professor at Princeton University and USC
An Expert on Pakistan’s intelligence services, police, jihadi groups, honour-based violence, blasphemy issues and the country’s politics more generally. The Expert has been working on Pakistan since 1998 and is a regular visitor to the country. He has exceptional contacts in the country and has interviewed all the key political military leaders of the last 20 years. Pakistan: Eye of the Storm, published by Yale University Press and now in its third edition, is a standard text for diplomats and scholars. As well as many BBC articles, the expert has written a number of essays for the London Review of Books that have broken new ground on Pakistan.
The Expert can verify Pakistani documents including FIR’s, fatwas, legal letters etc.
The Expert has lectured on Pakistan at leading British and American universities. He is considered one of the few people in London who has on the ground knowledge of the intelligence agencies and their links with violent jihadists but also has knowledge of other issues in Pakistani society. He has given seminars run by Kings College, London University and SOAS attended by British government officials seeking better to understand Pakistan. He has been a consultant on the tribal belt for UNDP.
The Expert has produced over 60 expert reports including one for Michael Ferguson of the Cardinal Hume Centre which drew on his knowledge of the Pakistani intelligence services. He has written reports for US courts. Issues have included land disputes, honour-based violence, sexuality, the MQM, the TLP and threats from the Taliban and the state. The Expert has also verified documents from Pakistan for UK proceedings. He has interviewed serving members of IS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the SSP and other Pakistani militant groups.
‘Pakistan: Eye of the Storm’. Yale University Press. 3 editions: 2002, 2003, 2010
‘On the Verge: Pakistan’s Insecurity’. The RUSI Journal. Volume 155, Issue 1, 2010
‘US Policy Options Towards Pakistan’. Stanley Foundation. February 2008
‘Musharraf’s Kashmir Policy’. Asian Affairs. Volume 38, No 3, November 2007
‘Pakistan's Foreign Policy Under Musharraf: Between a Rock and a Hard Place’, co-authored with Farzana Sheikh. Chatham House Briefing Paper, July 2007
And the following in the London Review of Books:
Islamic State v Al Qaeda - 3 November 2016
The Overlooked: The Deobandis - 8 September 2016
The Military and the Mullahs - 3 March 2016
‘We and Your: Suburban Jihadis’ - 27 August 2015
When Jihadis Win Power · 4 December 2014
Across the Durand Line - 25 September 2014
How should we think about the Caliphate 17 July 2014
Bunches of Guys: Just the Right Amount of Violence - 19 December 2013
Questions Concerning the Murder of Benazir Bhutto - 6 December 2012
The Bhutto Dynasty Yale University Press. 2020