Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
,: ضیاءالرحمن, born 1981) is a Pakistani journalist, researcher and author, specialising on security issues, human rights, minorities, and politics.
Personal life
Rehman was born and raised in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
, the capital of
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
province. He received his master's degree from
University of Karachi
The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (whic ...
in 2005. In 2018, he completed the prestigious British
Chevening Scholarship
The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom.
History
The Chevening Scholarship ...
South Asian Journalism fellowship. He speaks Urdu, English, Pashto and Balochi languages.
Work
Rehman has currently been working as a senior reporter with the prominent English daily ''
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 ...
'' in Karachi and regularly writes to the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
The Friday Times
''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language independent newsweekly, based in Lahore, Pakistan.
History and profile
''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin ...
'', ''
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
'' and ''
Herald
A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms.
Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...
'' among other publications.
Rehman mainly covers security, political and human rights issues, migration and labour rights, and monitors and specialises in Islamist and ethnic movements in the region.
He has been widely quoted in international and national publications, such as Washington Post, Rueters, AFP, and Radio Free Europe Free Liberty.
Rehman has also offered training of conflict reporting to journalists and also trained a number of Karachi youth from underprivileged and underreported areas of Karachi to teach them reporting and news-writing as well as photo and video journalism.
Publications
Rehman authored a book titled Karachi in Turmoil, in February 2013., containing a detailed coverage of the ethnic violence in Karachi.
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
phenomenon is also discussed in detail.
He also contributed a chapter on Pashtuns in Karachi in the book 'Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics’ published in 2017 by the C. Hurst & Co. In his chapter, Rehman highlights multiple pressures experienced by the politics of the Pashtun community in Karachi. According to a book review published in
Herald (Pakistan)
''The Herald'' was a monthly magazine of politics and current affairs published by the Dawn Media Group from 1970 to 2019 in Karachi, Pakistan. ''The Herald'' has been responsible for producing many large and breaking stories since it started.
It ...
magazine, one of the interesting features in his very cogent analysis is how the jihadi groups in Karachi appropriated criminal methods of extortion in order to raise funds and in doing so ended up harassing their own core ethnic group — Pakhtuns, specifically wealthy transporters and businessmen in the community.
Rehman has also written research reports and articles for several national and international publications and journals, including the Terrorism Monitor of
the Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...
, CTC Sentinel, a publication of the
Combating Terrorism Center
The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homeland ...
and Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center.
Awards and fellowships
Rehman won four Agahi Journalism Awards in 2013 for his reports on minorities and security issues.
In February 2021, the
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, sometimes shortened as Global Initiative, is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Geneva. The organisation is composed of a network of law enforcement, gover ...
, has chosen Rehman for 2021 Resilience Fellowship with aim to help uncover the impact of extortion in Pakistan.Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 11 Feb 2021 https://resiliencefund.globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Fellowship-2021-Announcement_ENG.pdf Retrieved 26 Feb, 2021