While the current Pakistani establishment may be inclined to ignore your thesis of the Zia murder, there must be some uneasiness about your revelation of homosexuality at the academy and even aboard a VIP aircraft. Was homosexuality rampant during your tenure in the PAF?
That would be unthinkable. Do you think there is homosexuality in the Indian defence academy? We have all seen Lakshya and we all know that all young officer want is Preity Zinta. But throw a lot of sixteen year olds together without Preity Zinta and let's see what happens.
Why did you decide to become a fauji? Is it because that is what young middle class Pakistanis, who were outside the orbit of the landowning elite, did, the military being your country's alternate elite? How many years did you spend in the PAF? Why and when did you quit? Was it, because, as you have said elsewhere, you could not deal with the tedium of military life? Or was there no space with the PAF for someone of your independent spirit?
I never really decided. At the age of sixteen, I just saw an advert in a paper and applied. My only other career options at that time were either to study very hard and become a doctor or take it easy and become a farmer. Who wouldn't anyone opt to become a pilot under those circumstances?
I think both India and Pakistan have recently had a serious problem trying to recruit officers for their armed forces. Kids are much wiser now and have many more interesting options. I left because I am not much of a careerist. I also read a book called Great Escapes.
Exclusive on rediff.com: The day Zia died
How did you think of a novel with this theme? Did you actually research the book? Or did you have all the material within the realm of your experience, which you just had to place within the context of the Zia assassination? Did you ever meet Zia, like Ali Shigari, the hero of your novel, did? If you did, what were your impressions of the general?
Only saw him on TV. And by that I mean I saw ONLY him on TV for a very long time like most people in Pakistan during the eighties. My research also involved watching back to back episodes of MASH.
Image: Top: Indian soldiers from the 54th Infantry Brigade present arms at the War Memorial, Khasa Military Station, some 15 km from Amritsar, December 16, 2006, during the celebration of 'Vijay Diwas' or Victory Day. The Indian army celebrates Vijay Divas every year on December 16 to mark the victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images. Below: Pakistani soldiers patrol during a Shia procession in Quetta, January 17, 2008. Photograph: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'Pakistan had the bomb by 1989'
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