Ansar Abbasi ( ur, ) (born June 12, 1965), is a Pakistani right-wing
commentator and columnist associated with ''
The News International
''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...
''.
As one of Pakistan's most prominent journalists, Abbasi generally holds socially conservative and nationalist views. He has been critical of activists including Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...
. He has called on a ban on Indian channels and strict checks on culturally offensive content in Pakistani dramas and movies. According to ''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', Abbasi holds orthodox religious views and rigid anti-American views.
Early life
Abbasi was born in Murree
Murree (Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...
, Pakistan, to a ''Dhund Abbasi'' family of that locality. He received his early education in his native village. Abbasi obtained matriculation or finished his basic education from Sir Syed School, Rawalpindi. Later he joined ''Government College Asghar Mall'', where he completed his Intermediate and Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
education. He received his master's degree from Balochistan University
The University of Balochistan (UB) (Urdu: جامعہ بلوچستان; Balochi: بلوچستان ء یونیورسٹی ), also known as Balochistan University, is a public university located in the downtown area of Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. ...
, Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...
. He also earned another master's degree from Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...
, University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. His research thesis was on child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
. Today, Ansar Abbasi doubtedly stands as a prominent icon in journalism in Pakistan. He has been writing for the English newspapers for a long time. He is the youngest son of Muhammad Sajawal Abbasi (Late) who died in 1981. He belongs to the clan of Abbasis from the beautiful Murree Hills.
Career
It was a planned career move. After doing his master's degree in mass communication, Ansar opted to be a journalist in 1991. He wanted to join the popular Urdu '' Daily Jang''. However, as a matter of what he now regards as good luck, he got his first career appointment with an English Daily: 'The Democrat'. After Masters in Mass Communication, Abbasi began his career as a professional journalist in 1991. His first stint was with an English-language daily, ''The Democrat''. Later, he worked for two months at ''Pakistan Times'' newspaper, before eventually joining ''The News International
''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...
'', of which he is now an editor.
He regards English journalism better than Urdu journalism, as he feels that mostly an Urdu journalist does nothing but dealing with 'Statement Journalism'. His own experience tells him that English journalism in Pakistan gives a journalist more growth opportunities and more chances to learn. He feels good that he landed in English journalism from the very start.
Experiences abroad
While pursuing his master's degree from the United Kingdom, he learnt a great deal from his school and from the exposure otherwise as well. He believes that he learnt more from travelling and visiting places than what he did from the curriculum at school. He acknowledges the system of education and research over there and finds the standards of labs and libraries really up to the mark. He feels a dire need that the authorities look into the dilapidated state of government universities in Pakistan and to equip them with what the student of today needs. His research thesis there included one on 'Child Labor' and for that particular one he found more than enough data on it, more than what he would have ever dreamt of in any university's library in Pakistan; given that Pakistan is a developing country and faces the menace of child labor to a much more alarming extent as compared to the UK.
Investigative articles
Chief Justice Choudhry
Abbasi was among the first to bring forth allegations against Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhray for gross misconduct in 2002, accusing him of admitting his son Dr. Arsalan to the Federal Investigation Agency
The Federal Investigation Agency ( ur, ; reporting name: FIA) is a border control, criminal investigation, counter-intelligence and security agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan, tasked with investigative jurisdi ...
undermining all merits. Primarily based on this allegation the establishment moved a reference to Supreme Judicial Council against Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhry.['Police storm office of TV channel: Musharraf apologises for raid']
Dawn (newspaper), Published 17 March 2007, Retrieved 16 March 2019
President Musharraf
Abbasi has published work critical of the regime of former president Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...
accusing him of building a multi-million rupees residence at Chak Shehzad, equipped with utilities at much cheaper rates with differential subsidized by the government.
He was critical of the former general for removing the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry and submitting his case to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Maulana Fazl ur Rahman
In November 2008, Abbasi published a story on the award of acres of military land worth millions of rupees to the family members of the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam ( ur, جمیعت علماءِ اسلام, abbreviated as JUI) was founded by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as an offshoot of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) on 26 October 1945.
History
The original Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind was formed in Br ...
, Maulana Fazl ur Rahman. Abbasi alleged that the regime of the then President General Pervez Musharraf attempted to buy off Maulana's opposition to General Musharraf's assumption of two public offices at a time.
Justice Dogar
"Our Special Daughters", an investigative report by Abbasi in ''Daily News'', found out that Justice Dogar's daughter Farah Hameed Dogar's examination paper for F.Sc. was reassessed in violation of a previous Supreme Court ruling. While the results of 201 candidates were revised, only for her were the examination papers re-marked and the numbers increased. In the other 200 cases, only errors in adding the total marks were corrected. The case later went on to the parliamentary committee for education.On screen, out of touch
Dawn (newspaper), Published 18 June 2009, Retrieved 16 March 2019
See also
*
List of Pakistani journalists
This is a list of Pakistani journalists from print and electronic media.
A
*Amin Hafeez
* Ansar Abbasi
*Ayaz Amir
* Abdul Hameed Chapra
* Asma Chaudhry
*Ardeshir Cowasjee
*Altaf Husain
* Arshad Sharif
* Aasma Sherazi
*Abid Qaiyum Suleri
* ...
*
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) is a trade union federation of journalists in Pakistan. PFUJ is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists.
History
The constitution of the PFUJ was first adopted in Karachi in A ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbasi, Ansar
1965 births
Living people
People from Murree
Pakistani male journalists
Pakistani newspaper editors
University of Balochistan alumni
Urdu-language non-fiction writers
Pakistani Islamists
Urdu-language columnists
21st-century Urdu-language writers
Pakistani investigative journalists
Pakistani columnists