''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

online publication based in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan.

History

''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor

Najam Sethi Najam Aziz Sethi ( Punjabi, Urdu: نجم عزیز سیٹھی; born 20 May 1948) is a Pakistani journalist, businessman and cricket administrator. He is the current chief executive officer (CEO) of Mitchell's. Previously, he served as the Chai ...

and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, a husband-and-wife team, are recipients of international awards conferred by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

. In 2009, Sethi also won the Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the

World Association of Newspapers The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper e ...

. According to Sethi, he first conceived of the idea for an independent Pakistani newspaper out of frustration: while briefly imprisoned in 1984 on trumped-up copyright charges, no newspapers had protested his arrest. The following year, he and Mohsin applied for a publishing license (called 'declaration' under the relevant Pakistani press law) under Mohsin's name, since Sethi was "too notorious an offender" to be approved. Called into

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

's office to discuss the application, Mohsin told him that she intended to publish "a social chit chat thing, you know, with lots of pictures of parties and weddings". It was finally approved in 1987, but Mohsin requested a one-year delay to avoid the first issue coming out during the dictatorship of General

Zia ul Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

. The paper's first issue appeared in May 1989. During the rule of President

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

, Mohsin wrote a monthly humor column titled "Mush and Bush" featuring fictional conversations between the president and US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. She had previously targeted Prime Minister Sharif with a column for his "dim and authoritarian personality, his intolerance of dissent". Her sister,

Moni Mohsin Syeda Matanat Ghaffar (born September 1963), commonly known as Moni Mohsin, is a British Pakistanis, British-Pakistani writer based in London, United Kingdom. She wrote a long running satirical column "The Diary of a Social Butterfly" for ''The ...

, satirizes the country's social elites with another column for the paper, "Diary of a Social Butterfly". Mohsin advocates a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Pakistan and opposes

religious fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...

. In January 2006, she argued for the right of women to participate in a

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

wearing shorts instead the

salwar kameez Shalwar kameez (also salwar kameez and less commonly shalwar qameez) is a traditional combination dress worn by men and women in South Asia, and Central Asia. ''Salwar, Shalwars'' are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist and narr ...

. She later became a major critic of the former cricketer

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

's entry into politics, stating that he "doesn't really have a firm grip on history, or politics, or economy ... He would be very easily led and misled."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friday Times, The 1989 establishments in Pakistan Newspapers established in 1989 Defunct newspapers published in Pakistan Weekly newspapers published in Pakistan Mass media in Lahore Online newspapers with defunct print editions Liberalism in Pakistan