Quick Facts
Biography
Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf is a retired officer in the Pakistan Army and a military scientist. As 2017, he is a news columnist, businessman, and former military college administrator. Sharaf also serves in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Shadow Cabinet as the Spokesperson for Defense Production. He served Pakistan Army for 33 years, most notably in Nuclear Policy making. Despite being qualified in security and nuclear strategy, he prefers to call himself a Political Economist: the robe of a modern Strategist. He is a Christian by faith.
Education
He attended St. Anthony's High School (Lahore) from where he did his Senior Cambridge in 1971. He completed the F.Sc. from Government College Lahore in 1972. He joined the Pakistan Military Academy from where he graduated in 1974. In 1985, he obtained an honours degree in English literature from the University of Balochistan. He also attended the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, from where he obtained a double M.Sc. in Defence and Strategic studies in 1997. His dissertation pertained to Kautilya's Political Thinking.
Military career
He rose rapidly through the ranks of the Pakistan Army ending up as a Brigadier. He has served in the General Staff Branch of General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army. In 2005, the President of Pakistan conferred awards on Independence Day to the officers of the armed forces in Rawalpindi. Sharaf was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military).
He has also been an honorary Colonel of the Battalion of 1st Sindh Regiment based in Waziristan.
Current activities
Sharaf is a columnist for The Nation and other newspapers.
He has also been a defence analyst, specialising in South Asia, Nuclear and International Political Economy.
He is CEO of WaterTech Private Limited, Pakistan, a water treatment systems business. He is also currently the Rector of St Mary’s College, Rawalpindi.