Bakar joined the elite Indian Civil Service in 1935 and was initially posted in several major cities of Bengal including Dacca and Calcutta.

On the Partition of India in 1947, he opted for Pakistan and continued to serve in East Bengal as principal secretary to the chief minister.

He remained Director General Civil Defence from 1952 to 1955 during which period he received in-service training in England for one year.

He was retired from service in 1959 owing to long standing animosity with fellow civil servant Aziz Ahmed who emerged as Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator under President Ayub Khan following the imposition of martial law in October 1958.

[3] S N Bakar died at the relatively young age of 53 years in 1966 due to cardiac arrest, leaving behind his widow Sultana, whose father, Khan Bahadur Syed Ijaz Ali OBE, was Regent of Khairpur State, five children, Riaz, Niaz, Rumana, Farzana and Shahbaz.