Agha Iftikhar Ahmad ( ur, افتخار احمد; born 4 November 1950) is a Pakistani

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and a political activist. Ahmad started his career in 1980, after his release from jail and joined ''Jang Media Network'' and held a senior position in the Network. Ahmad is currently serving as Director of Elections, Investigations, Special Projects, and Research (EISPAR) for the Geo News Network (GNN). Iftikhar Ahmad also hosted interview show Jawab Deyh (or in English "''Answerable!''") on Geo News TV channel for over 10 years.Senior Journalist Iftikhar Ahmed Joins Dunya News
Pakistan Media Updates, Published 24 June 2015, Retrieved 28 July 2020 Iftikhar Ahmad joined

BOL Network BOL Network ( ur, ) is a media conglomerate based in Karachi owned by Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh who also served as the CEO and chairman of the media network. According to Declan Walsh Bol Network was under the auspices of the fake diploma mill Axa ...

as Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Anchorperson in BOL News on 18 October 2014. On 23 May 2015, Kamran Khan, Asma Shirazi and ''Iftikhar Ahmad'' left BOL Network due to corruption allegations on

Axact Axact ( ur, ) is a Pakistan software company that runs numerous websites selling fraudulent academic degrees. The company also owns the media company BOL Network. History Axact was founded by Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, who serves as its chairman ...

company which was the parent company of Bol News TV channel. He then joined

Dunya News Dunya News is a 24 hours Urdu language news and current affairs television channel from Pakistan. It is governed and operated by the National Communication Services (NCS) Pvt. Ltd. Its head office is situated at Lahore. Dunya News was founded and ...

but soon left. As of 2019, he is affiliated with

24 News HD 24 News HD, or 24 Digital ( ur, ٢۴ ڈیجیٹل) is an Urdu language current affairs television channel based in Lahore, Pakistan and launched in 2015.Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, West-Pakistan. He obtained his early education from

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

. He attended

Central Model School, Lahore Government Central Model School, Lahore is a school in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous count ...

MAO College Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammed ...

, Lahore and the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

Political activity

Since 1967, Iftikhar Ahmad has been a political activist as well. He participated in the movement against military dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan. His political philosophy was very much in line with the socialist ideas and he was mesmerised by

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

. He wrote his undergraduate thesis advocating the socialist ideas and its role in modern societies. In 1973, Ahmad wrote his thesis supporting Bhutto's socialist economics policies and advocating for the need of socialism in the country. Ahmad served multiple jail terms under the martial law governments for various violations of

Legal Framework Order, 1970 The Legal Framework Order, 1970 (LFO) was a decree issued by then-President of Pakistan Gen. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan that laid down the political principles and laws governing the 1970 general election, which was the first direct elections in th ...

. He was sent to the

Sibi Sibi (Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is the headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name. Etymology The origin of the town's name is attributed to Rani Sewi, a Hindu lad ...

Central Jail, Shahpur Central Jail, ''Camp Jail, Lahore'' and the

Lahore Fort The Lahore Fort ( ur, , lit=Royal Fort, translit=Shāhī Qilā, label= Punjabi and Urdu) is a citadel in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of walled city Lahore, and spreads over an area greater than 20 ...

detention center. Ahmad has also served as adviser to two Chief Ministers and one Governor of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

. His political philosophy is that the real political divide is always between the poor and the rich. He argues that

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

may never see a leader better than

, and a political slogan better than "''Roti, Kapra aur Makan''". With over 30 years of experience in journalism, Iftikhar Ahmad is known for his probing and aggressive style of journalism.

Career

Iftikhar Ahmad started his journalism career in 1982 from newspaper Subh-o Khair and worked for various publications including ''Daily Aftab'' and '' Daily Pakistan''. He has been working for '' Daily Jang'' since 1986. In the 1980s, Ahmad introduced personal interviews of politicians; these were different in the way that for the first time politicians divulged private information as well. Ahmad through his interviews for ''Daily Jang'' set a new trend in Pakistani journalism. Ahmad started Jang Group's Election Cell in 1988, and had covered more than five political elections and also Geo Election Cell in the General Elections of 2002, 2008 and 2013 in

. Ahmad also worked closely with the Geo News Administration and a fellow friend and journalist

Hamid Mir Hamid Mir ( ur, حامد میر; born 23 July 1966) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer. Born in Lahore to a journalistic family, Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. He has hosted the political talk show ' ...

on the ''Zara Sochiye'' social awareness campaign on Geo News TV channel. A campaign which aimed to start a debate on issues that divide the Pakistani

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

, after the broadcast of the debate on Hudood Ordinance, the National Assembly of Pakistan ratified the

Hudood Ordinances The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...

Controversy: Pleading the case for Bhutto

Ahmad, through his program, ''Jawabdeh'' has questioned several key power players of the coup d'état staged by General

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

and the subsequent hanging of the then elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (see ''

Operation Fair Play Operation Fair Play was the code name for the 5 July 1977 coup by Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The coup itself was bloodless, and was preceded by ...

''). In these interviews, some of these people, closely worked with General Zia-ul-Haq, spilled the beans about

General Zia Ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law i ...

real political intentions. In his programme, former Justice Naseem Hassan Shah, who was a member of the bench of

Pakistan Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate ...

which upheld Bhutto's death sentence, admitted that he should have voted against the hanging and felt bad for not doing so. Justice Shah also admitted that there was not enough evidence to put Bhutto on death row. It was the political pressure by General Zia-ul-Haq that manipulated the decision. Those who voted against the decision, such as Justice Fakh-ruddin Ebrahim and Justice Dourab Framroze Patel, General Zia-ul-Haq insulted them, and forcefully retired them from their services. His Interview of Naseem Hassan Shah led to the PPP to make the decision to file for the reopening of the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The interview also served as the basis of a lawsuit against Justice Naseem Hassan Shah in which the claimant claimed that after Justice Naseem Hassan Shah's admission in the interview that the decision to hang "''Bhutto Sahib''" had been forced upon them by Zia-ul-Haq.

Resignation in protest

It was reported on 17 November 2008 that he resigned from

Geo TV Geo Television Network is a television channel based in Pakistan. It was established in May 2002 and is owned by the Jang Media Group. The channel began its test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning on 1 October 2 ...

in protest over its refusal to broadcast his interview with

Shahid Masood Shahid Masood ( ur, ) is a Pakistani columnist and political analyst who hosts the talk show ''Live with Dr. Shahid Masood'' on GNN. He is known for his series ''End of Time'' on ARY''.'' Previously, he served as Group executive director of ...

. He alleged that he was earlier pressured to censor certain portions of the said interview, which he declined. The Geo TV administration retracted from their position and the complete interview was broadcast the following week. After the program went on the air, Ahmad took back his resignation. He resigned from Dunya News on 14 October 2015 when ''Dunya News'' top men were putting pressure on him to announce fabricated results about NA-122 contest (an election district) while he took a stance that he would only announce figures of votes that were coming from reporters, instead of engineering a high figure of difference between two major candidates. According to sources, Ahmad was of the view that 'manipulation-of-election-results' difference between two major contestants before the actual results come in, was unprofessional and unethical.

Quotes

* Ahmad stated in

's '' Capital Talk'' show on Geo TV: "Pakistan may never see a leader better than Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and a political slogan better than "Roti, Kapra aur Makan (Food, Clothes, and Home)".

References