 He also wrote that appointing Ansari for this post at a time when "Pakistan went all out to bring Kashmir to the centre of international attention after the end of the Cold War" showed India's secular credentials.After serving as a visiting professor of the West Asian and African Studies Department of Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1999 to 2000, Ansari was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University on 23 May 2000.After leaving the post in 2002, he served as a visiting professor of the Academy for Third World Studies Department of the Jamia Milia Islamia from 2003 to 2005.