Dying to Serve: Militarism, Affect, and the Politics of Sacrifice in the Pakistan Army

In every country, as an institution the military is responsible for protecting its physical borders and, at their request, helping the civilian government in a time of need. Pakistan’s military is not only a defender of physical borders and ideological frontiers, it also directly or indirectly is involved in politics. It is a robust institution that safeguards the country from external and internal threats and is always ready to make sacrifices for the nation. Many books have been written on the subject of Pakistan's military from different perspectives, but Dr. Maria Rashid’s book entitled “Dying to serve: Militarism, affect, and the politics of sacrifice in the Pakistan army” is a unique contribution that deals with ‘militarism’ and exposes the mechanisms through which it operates in Pakistan. This book has been critically written under diverse and well-arranged themes. Previous studies discuss the high ranking military officers, but omit the martyred soldiers and their poor families coming from socio-economically backward areas. Also highlighted throughout the book is the feminine role of members of the soldiers’ families.