There is no harm in mentioning the said book as your favorite book, if you have strong justification for liking it, i don't know what is the reason given by seniors for not mentioning it.But it is relevant,authentic and well-known book.Yes, here you need to be careful and well prepared for any kind of question asked by the panelists as it is on civil services, so many people have different reservations about it.Otherwise if you are confidant to justify your stance, you must go for it.best of luck!

For curbing political pressure, one has to be strong professionally and morally.We have examples of many officers who stood firm against feudal lords and politicians and made their own ways.Although it is not easy to fight against corrupt and powerful politicians but we can strive for dealing with them tactfully.We can follow the path of honest seniors and supervisors to tackle any kind of pressure during the job!

Thanks Mano.
People often ignore it due to the last chapter regarding spirituality and it is something that I find troubling too. But the rest of the chapters are worth multiple readings.

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"I strictly disagree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it untill my death"

Try to remove the ambiguities in your mind regarding that particular chapter, and if it is controversial and you are unable to satisfy yourself, then you must avoid mentioning it, otherwise you should not pay heed to such suggestions, ''BUT'' your own clarity of mind is essential.

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

Since we have to mention two books, I am planning to mention"The Holy Woman"by Qaisra Shahraz.
By the way, what about the negative personalities and important events of 2011. Can you guide me about that?

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"I strictly disagree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it untill my death"

About negative personalities, you are the best judge, as Hiltor is hero for so many people, it depends on your own perception about different people.A few people idealize Mumtaz Qadri, others think that he should be punished, so you can better decide in this concern. It's the 3rd month of 2012, so might be they ask you about this year's important events, be ready for them as well, however as far as 2011 is concern following were a few important ones,

1. Arab spring
2. Global financial crisis
3. Anna Hazzare's movement
4. 2 May operation
5. Nato attacks and revision of foreign policy
6. Norwegian tragedy
7. Wall street movement

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

My interview was on 13 March.

RBD. He took my research articles and started asking about my job experience at NDU, Islamabad. After some informal talk, he started:

1. What is acid rain?
2. What is carbon credit?
3. Why china has kept its currency undervalued?
4. What is national energy corridor?
5. New silk route?
6. Kinds of pollution?
7. Personalities of my district?
8. Saraiki province, support or not?
9. Any chance of cold war between the middle eastern countries and the rest of world?
10. Pakistani response towards salala check post attack?
11. Present development in syria?
12. Which country's speaker is visiting pakistan these days?


Saud Gohar:

1. If we appoint you as DPO of a district where two sectarian groups are fighting with each other, what will be your strategy?
2. Do you think license regimes of weapons in Pakistan are liberal?
3. Should they be tightened?
4. What mechanism?
5. What is crime-terror nexus? (It was from my research article)
6. What is 4th schedule in anti terrorist act 1997?
7. Who is responsible for the acts of firing in the air?

Dr. sughra junejo:

1. Earlier you have said that the PM should not be given the permits for licensing, why?
2. In economic terms, define balance of trade?
3. Why china has devalued its currency?
4. Is there a potential of Central Asian countries balancing OPEC?
5. Issue of US resolution on Baluchistan, why it was tabled?
6. Problems of Baluchistan?
7. Scope of human rights in islam?
8. In which sura of quran, the rights of parents are discussed?

I dropped 2-3 minor questions, but on all other questions i had a good discussion in convincing manner. It is my first attempt; i wonder where i shall stand....

Here’s how my interview went,

RBD:

Describe yourself in 60 seconds.
Q1.You are a muslim so then why did you answer the question of rebirth in psychological(question was that if you were born again which mistake would u rectify)….so a lil discussion on tht(do not take the question lightly and prepare well if u wrote an answer to that question in your psychological. he asked this question to every single candidate)
Q 2.What is the name of the public body looking into the rights of women in Pakistan?
Q 3.Why do women need quota in govt jobs and is that justified?
Q4.Tell us why economy of Pakistan is in such a dire state?(I had only come to my second point i.e corruption when he asked me why is there corruption not waiting to listen to the rest of points)
Q5.How can corruption be eradicated(a little discussion and cross questioning on this)
Q6. difference between business management and public administration(my subject optional)
Q7. he asked me some terms related to customs,some kind of invoice and LC(letter of credit)and another abbreviation tht I don’t remember.said sorry for all three

Overall everything went smoothly with him,he didn’t contradict me anywhere or behave rudely,actually quite the opposite, he was very sweet.

Saud gohar:
Q1. PPRA
Q2. CCP
Q3. Max weber’s contribution to our society
Q4. red tapism how would I deal with it or how I would make the bureaucracy more efficient?
Q5. climate change ,latest progress,Kyoto protocol solutions and what is carbon credit?
Q6. SWOT Analysis

Overall this went well,he was asking everything in detail,checking the depth f my knowledge perhaps,definition alone wasn’t enough for any of the questions,except for CCP I answered all the rest in dept to his satisfaction,regarding CCP my knowledge was superficial.

Ahmed raza:

Q1.bending moment,shear force(im a building engineer so course related)
Q2. how to design earthquake resistant buildings(again course relatd)
Q3. seismic zones of Pakistan.
Q4. pemra and its working,a lot of discussion followed on if there’s a legislation n enforcing mechanism etc,what should be done
Q5. managerial grid,
Q6. asked me about public administration and what it should be like
Q7. non state actors and if they were only good for trouble making,discussin followed about mansoor ijaz.
Q8.difference between backdoor diplomacy and non state actors,(didn’t do well on this one.).

There was a lot of discussion and cross questioning,but the panel was never rude or contradicted me anywhere except for the CCP one where saud gohar himself gave me the detail after I failed to gve him a satisfactory answer on tht one. Anyhow that’s like 20 questions in 30 mins or maybe 5 mins more , but it wasn’t more than 35 min at all.

Please pray for me, thankyou n best of luck to all those who have yet to give their interviews…..a word of advice just stay relaxed, smile and everything will take care of itself!

Gentlemen,

Please mention which of the following books mentioned should be selected for interview preparation:-

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Ana Keranin by Leo Tolstoy
Jinnah,India,Independence ,Partition by Jaswant Singh
The Indus Saga and Making of Pakistan by Aitazaz Ahsan
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Pleasures of Philosophy by Will Durant

I m doing M Phil IR from QAU, ISLAMABAD. I am Research Associate at NDU, Islamabad. My optionals were: Political Science, European History, Constitutional law, and IR. Stood first in GC, Lahore and PPSC lecturer exam. I know, my interview was slightly different. But i am satisfied as it was a good interaction.

My Articles were:

1. The Anatomy of Crime-Terror Nexus: A case Study of Pakistan
2. Post 2014 Afghanistan and regional security
3. Assured Access to Global Commons: NATO's bid for Global Hegemony

Are you surprised with the kind of questions asked to me?

I think you should avoid '' Anna Karenina '' and Madame Bovary ''....coz both deal with extramarital love relations etc..but still overall they are not that bad..They are quite famous novels by great writers...but just to avoid any complication its better to skip them...others are safe choices...but still its your decision.pick the one which you can easily describe and can have good grip on..