The press roll
Who we watch
127 Pakistani journalists whose work the desk searches for every cycle, alongside the outlets it reads. This is not a ranking and the order means nothing. Employers are left off on purpose, because they change too often to print.
Current-affairs anchors
The prime-time talk shows where most of the country’s political argument happens.
- Hamid Mir
- Kamran Khan
- Shahzeb Khanzada
- Kashif Abbasi
- Nadeem Malik
- Talat Hussain
- Mohammad Malick
- Saleem Safi
- Asma Shirazi
- Nasim Zehra
- Meher Bokhari
- Moeed Pirzada
- Mubasher Lucman
- Mansoor Ali Khan
- Muneeb Farooq
- Shahzad Iqbal
- Waseem Badami
- Iqrar ul Hassan
- Gharida Farooqi
- Maria Memon
- Fereeha Idrees
- Sana Bucha
- Munizae Jahangir
- Amber Rahim Shamsi
- Ayesha Bakhsh
- Absa Komal
- Paras Jahanzeb
- Kiran Naz
- Rabia Anum
- Ajmal Jami
- Adil Shahzeb
- Syed Ali Haider
- Sami Ibrahim
- Arshad Sharif (killed)Shot dead in Kenya, October 2022.
Investigative & reporting
Reporters who break stories, and several who have paid for it.
- Ansar Abbasi
- Umar Cheema
- Azaz Syed
- Ahmad Noorani
- Fakhar Durrani
- Zahid Gishkori
- Rauf Klasra
- Amir Mateen
- Matiullah Jan
- Asad Ali Toor
- Absar Alam
- Imran Riaz Khan
- Sabir Shakir
- Benazir Shah
- Ramsha Jahangir
- Sabookh Syed
- Essa Naqvi
- Saleem Shahzad (killed)Abducted and killed, May 2011.
Editors & columnists
The people who run the papers and the people who argue in them, in English and Urdu.
- Zaffar Abbas
- Najam Sethi
- Zahid Hussain
- Abbas Nasir
- Cyril Almeida
- Fahd Husain
- Arifa Noor
- Huma Yusuf
- Rafia Zakaria
- Nadeem F. Paracha
- Mazhar Abbas
- Sohail Warraich
- Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami
- Hassan Nisar
- Haroon ur Rasheed
- Javed Chaudhry
- Orya Maqbool Jan
- Irshad Bhatti
- Habib Akram
- Ayaz Amir
- Ghazi Salahuddin
- Kamal Siddiqi
- Hasan Zaidi
- Zarrar Khuhro
- Mubashir Zaidi
- Wusatullah Khan
- Mohammed Hanif
- Raza Rumi
- Murtaza Solangi
- Marvi Sirmed
- Beena Sarwar
- Mosharraf Zaidi
- Ejaz Haider
- Shaheen Sehbai
- Owais Tohid
- I. A. Rehman (died)
- M. Ziauddin (died)
- Ardeshir Cowasjee (died)
- Irfan Husain (died)
Economy, diplomacy & courts
The specialist beats: the budget, the Foreign Office and the Supreme Court.
- Khurram Husain
- Khaleeq Kiani
- Shahbaz Rana
- Mehtab Haider
- Kamran Yousaf
- Baqir Sajjad Syed
- Anwar Iqbal
- Iftikhar A. Khan
- Hasnaat Malik
- Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui
Security, KP, Balochistan & Afghanistan
Reporting from the hardest places in the country to report from.
- Ahmed Rashid
- Imtiaz Gul
- Tahir Khan
- Iftikhar Firdous
- Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud
- Mushtaq Yusufzai
- Ismail Khan
- Saleem Shahid
- Shahzada Zulfiqar
- Kiyya Baloch
- Malik Siraj Akbar
- Rahimullah Yusufzai (died)
International desks
Pakistani correspondents for the BBC and other foreign broadcasters.
- Shumaila Jaffery
- Farhat Javed
- Asif Farooqi
- Khalid Hameed Farooqi
Sports
Cricket, mostly, and everything else.
- Abdul Majid Bhatti
- Faizan Lakhani
- Mirza Iqbal Baig
- Shahid Hashmi
- Saj Sadiq
- Waheed Khan
Gilgit-Baltistan
The reporters who cover the north from the north.
- Noor Muhammad
- Jamil Nagri
- Shabbir Mir
Press unions
The people who speak for journalists when journalists are the story.
- Afzal Butt
Missing someone, or listed and would rather not be? Write to the desk. The address is on the About page. The Gilgit-Baltistan list is short because it holds only the names we could stand behind; it is the one we most want to grow.