Mazhar Abbas is a Pakistani journalist currently working with Geo News as Senior Analyst and columnist for Daily Jang. Previously he was the deputy director of

ARY News ARY may stand for: * Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, a Pakistani expatriate businessman * Andre Romelle Young, real name of Dr. Dre * Ary and the Secret of Seasons, an action adventure video game * ARY Digital, a Pakistani television network * ARY Digital Ne ...

Television, the bilingual news channel in Pakistan, and the secretary general of the

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 ...

. He is the brother of

Zaffar Abbas Zaffar Abbas is a Pakistani journalist, who has been the editor of Pakistan's English-language daily ''Dawn (newspaper), DAWN'', since October 2010. Career Abbas started his journalism career in 1981 with ''The Star (Pakistan), The Star'' afte ...

, the editor of ''Dawn'', and

Azhar Abbas (journalist) Azhar Abbas is a senior Pakistani journalist and the current managing director of Geo News. Personal life Abbas's father was Mirza Abid Abbas, an educationist who was the former secretary of the Hyderabad Board of Education; he died in 2002. ...

, the managing director of

Geo News Geo News is a Rank Number 1 Pakistani news channel owned by the Jang Media Group. History The Geo Television Network started out with the launch of its flagship channel Geo TV in October 2002 but has since launched several other channels whic ...

Early life

Abbas studied journalism at the University of Karachi. 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. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

as Bureau Chief in Karachi 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 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 the ...

, 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) ( ur, ) 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 w ...

, 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.

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 Major General Athar Abbas is a former Director General of the ISPR and former Ambassador of Pakistan to Ukraine from 2015 to 2018. He retired from active military service after 35 years in June 2012. Military career General Abbas was commiss ...

, Anwer Abbas, and Azhar Abbas. In 2008, Abbas's brother,

, became the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations. He served until 2012 and was Pakistan's Ambassador to Ukraine from 2015 to 2018. His other brother

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