Saleem Safi (; born 7 March 1968) is a Pakistani journalist and talk show host for the show ''Jirga''. He specializes in foreign policy, terrorism,

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

conflict,

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

conflict and the politics of

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 is associated with Jang Media Group and hosts an

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

talkshow on

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 ...

, called ''

Jirga A jirga (, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who ...

''.

Early life and education

Safi was born on 7 March 1968. He belongs to the Mulagore tribe and hails from the Mardan District of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province in Pakistan. He graduated from the University of Peshawar and is based in Islamabad.

Career

Safi specialises in issues concerning

Afghan conflict The Afghan conflict (; ) is a term that refers to the series of events that have kept Afghanistan in a near-continuous state of armed conflict since the 1970s. Early instability followed the collapse of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in the large ...

and Pakistan's tribal areas.Afghan warlord 'aided Bin Laden'
BBC News website, Published 11 January 2007, retrieved 14 August 2018 He hosts ''Jirga'', a talkshow on Geo. He also writes columns for the Urdu language newspaper ''Daily Jang'' and the English language ''The News International''. After his studies, Safi began his career as a reporter for NNI (News Network International) in Mardan. Where he rose to the post of Bureau Chief of NNI in Peshawar. As Bureau Chief, he covered all of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and Afghanistan. Then he started writing columns for national newspapers. From 2000 to 2008 Saleem's columns in '' Daily Mashriq'', ''Daily Aaj'' and '' Daily Pakistan'' were praised for their in-depth coverage of an emerging situation in the pre and post 9/11 scenario. Pakistani politics, foreign policy, Afghanistan and socio religious issues have all been discussed by him through his writings in more than one thousand columns. In 2004, Safi published the book ''Afghanistan: The Role of US, Taliban and Pakistani Religious Parties''. Saleem also started in electronic media following the media boom in Pakistan. He hosted his own prime time

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 ...

talkshow, ''Jirga'' from PTV Peshawar from 2002 to 2004. Due to popular demand he again started the show but on PTV World, "Saleem Safi Kay Saath" in Urdu in 2005 from Islamabad, which he hosted till 2008. From 2007 to 2008, he also hosted a talk show, ''Siyasat'' on the Pashto language TV channel Khyber. At the end of 2008, he joined Jang Media Group and

Geo TV Jang Media Group (), also known as Geo Group, is a Pakistani media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Dubai-based company Independent Media Corporation. It has headquarters in Printing House, Karachi. It is the publisher of the Urdu language new ...

as an anchor, columnist and analyst. He hosts a show with the name ''

'', and writes in the News and Jang with the same name. Saleem's talk shows and documentaries are widely seen across the country. He has conducted interviews of many national and international leaders and stakeholders in the region such as

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 ...

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 ...

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having held the same office from 2008 to 2013. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...

, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Gulbadin Hikmatyar,

Burhanuddin Rabbani Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghanistan, Afghan politician and teacher who served as the sixth president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 199 ...

, Abdullah Abdullah and other political, religious and jihadi leaders. He has hosted current affairs programmes, ''Saleem Safi Kay Saath'' on TV channels such as

PTV News PTV News HD is a 24-hour Urdu News channel owned by the Pakistan Television Corporation. It also broadcast as Terrestrial television. PTV News is a cable and satellite news channel launched in the face of tough international competition. Its ...

, the Pashto-language AVT Khyber and serves as the host 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 ...

TV talk show ''

''.Nothing to be gained from standoff with institutions: Nisar
Dawn newspaper, Published 10 September 2017, retrieved 14 August 2018 He has also written columns for the ''

Daily Jang The ''Daily Jang'' () is an Urdu language newspaper headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. It is considered one of Pakistan's newspaper of record and a leading newspaper of Pakistan. History It is the oldest newspaper of Pakistan in continuous p ...

'', an Urdu language newspaper. He is often invited as a commentator on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

language programs as an expert on Afghanistan and

, Pakistan.

Awards and recognition

* PTV Award for 'Best Compere of Current Affairs' TV program in 2002. * Agahi Award for excellence in journalism, 'Journalist of the Year 2021'.

Books

* ''Afghanistan: US, Taliban, Aur Pakistan Ki Deeni Juma'aton Ka Kirdar'' (Afghanistan: The role of US, Taliban and Pakistan's religious parties) * ''Attock ta Adyala'' * ''Aur Tabdeeli Laayee Gayee'' * China Pakistan Economic Corridor- Myth & Reality * ''Aur Tabdeeli Gale Par Gayi'' * Dirty War 2001–2023 پاکستان میں دہشت گردی کے خلاف جنگ کی چشم دید اور چشم کشا کہانی

References

External links

*
Jang.com.pk columns by Safi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safi, Saleem Living people Pakistani columnists Pakistani male journalists Pashtun journalists People from Mardan District Geo News newsreaders and journalists University of Peshawar alumni Defence and security analysts in Pakistan 1968 births PTV Award winners Pakistani television talk show hosts