Emal Pasarly is the multimedia editor for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Personal life

Emal Pasarly was born in the northern province of Kunduz,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, to an upper-middle-class family. As a result of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, his family migrated to neighboring

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He moved to London in 1993 and began working with the BBC World Service in 1996. He is the son of a well-known Afghan poet Mohammad Seddiq Pasarly, and the brother of classic writer Asadullah Ghazanfar, journalists Esmat Sarwan, Ajmal Pasarly and Nazo Pasarly (now Nazo Essa). He married his wife Fareba in 2003 in London and has two children.

Journalism

Pasarly has been working for the BBC for almost 20 years. He has interviewed a number of well known Afghan and international politicians and opposition figures including

David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member o ...

, a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

from 2001 to 2013, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. His other notable interviews were with

Mullah Omar Muhammad Umar Mujahid (196023 April 2013), commonly known as Mullah Omar or Muhammad Omar, was an Afghan militant leader and founder and the first leader of the Taliban from 1994 until his death in 2013. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the T ...

, the leader of the Afghan

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

movement who controlled Afghanistan from 1994 to 2001 before they were driven out by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and allied forces. Pasarly has interviewed the secretive one-eyed leader

three times by phone in four- or five-minute conversations that were recorded on the spot without prior arrangement. The last such conversation took place late in 2001, after US B-52 bombers had started pounding Taliban-controlled areas. Pasarly later told an

Aljazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which provi ...

reporter about his experience of interviewing Mullah Omar. "''The impression I was left with is that he either does not understand the nuances of issues, or that he is too smart and does not want to give clues on his inner thoughts''".

Writing

Pasarly also writes fiction in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

; he is the author of several books including three novels, 11 collections of short stories, a collection of plays and 6 non-fiction book about online journalism including the History of Afghan cricket. Before joining the BBC Pasarly was the editor of a monthly magazine called DEWA, for Pashto literature in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

External links

BBC Blog.

Asian Cricket council Afghan literature site which has Emal's bio

Emal Pasarly speaks at London's Frontline Club,2013

Aljazeera quotes Pasarly on Mullah Omar

British Afghan women society mentions Emal Pasarly’s experience on Bilingualism

* ttps://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-blocks-youtube-controversial-video-sparks-violence-102540212.html Emal Pasarly on Afghanistan YouTube ban
Pasarly on Mullah Omar

Pasarly discuses Afghan corruption case

Pasarly talks about Honour killing in Afghanistan

Journalist profile
* https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/19/afghanistan-cricket-world-cup-guide-game-plan-key-player-and-prediction {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasarly, Emal 1974 births Living people Afghan journalists Afghan television journalists Afghan television presenters BBC newsreaders and journalists Afghan emigrants to England Afghan expatriates in Pakistan People from Kunduz Province