Mazhar Abbas (6 July 1958) is a Pakistani

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

currently working with Geo News as Senior Analyst and columnist for Daily Jang. Previously he was the deputy director of

ARY News ''ARY News HD'' () is a Pakistani news channel launched on 26 September 2004 with the name "ARY One", the channel was later renamed to "ARY One World" until May 2009 when it was rebranded as "ARY News". A bilingual news channel in English and ...

Television, the bilingual news channel in Pakistan, and the secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. He is the brother of Zaffar Abbas, the editor of ''Dawn'', and Azhar Abbas (journalist), the managing director of

Geo News Geo News () is a old technology foundation Pakistani news channel owned by the Jang Media Group. It was launched in October 2002 as the news and current affairs program was under its flagship channel Geo TV, which later in 2004, Geo TV decided ...

Early life

Abbas studied journalism at the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

. He wants to give each citizen in Pakistan the right to speak on social and human rights issues, regardless of what the military and government are doing. Because of this, he has covered many controversial cases over the years. In his early career in 2002, he covered the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal Bureau Chief.

Career

Abbas worked for

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

as Bureau Chief in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

for six years. Abbas is the deputy director of the ARY News Television network. Through this network, he focuses on providing commentary on the country's powerful and controversial military and government figures. He also provides financial support to journalists who are working in difficult conditions as they try to report on what is happening in dangerous areas. Abbas was awarded the CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2007. He was awarded the Missouri Honour Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 2009. Abbas, who has worked as a journalist for nearly thirty years, has received threats as a result of his work. After protesting the closing of three independent TV channels for their reporting on demonstrations against President Musharraf, he was charged by police in early 2007. In May 2007, he and two other journalists found white envelopes containing bullets placed on their cars.

Political views

As a member of the

Karachi Press Club The Karachi Press Club (KPC @pressclubkhi) () is an organization of the community of the journalists. It also takes account of academics, business people and people from the public service. Karachi Press Club was the first press club that was est ...

, whose members regularly perform demonstrations against the government in the name of human and civil rights, he ended up on a hit list of the Mohajir Rabita Council, an ethnic political group in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh, which was allied with former 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 ...

Personal life and family

Abbas's father, an educationist, was Mirza Abid Abbas, the former secretary of the Hyderabad Board of Education; he died in 2002. Mazhar has four brothers, Maj. Gen. (R) Athar Abbas, Zaffar Abbas, Anwer Abbas, and Azhar Abbas. In 2008, Abbas's brother, Athar Abbas, became the director general of the

Inter-Services Public Relations The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) () is the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It broadcasts and coordinates military news and information to the country's Media of Pakistan, civilian media and the Pakistani ...

. He served until 2012 and was Pakistan's Ambassador to Ukraine from 2015 to 2018. His other brother Azhar Abbas (journalist) was the managing director of

(TV network), while another Zaffar Abbas is the editor of ''Dawn'' (newspaper). Abbas has two daughters.

References

External links

Interview with Mazhar Abbas on Newsline magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbas, Mazhar 1958 births Living people Pakistani male journalists Urdu-language journalists Geo News newsreaders and journalists ARY News newsreaders and journalists