Najam Sethi is a Pakistani journalist and businessman who serves as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. He is the founder of The Friday Times and Vanguard Books.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Najam Aziz Sethi was born on Thursday, 20 May 1948 (age 74 years; as of 2022) in Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan. His zodiac sign is Taurus. He did his schooling from St. Anthony’s High School, Lahore. He earned a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University and a PhD from Government College University, Lahore.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Semi-bald (grey)
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
Najam’s father’s name is Abdul Aziz Sethi.
wife and children
Najam married Pakistani journalist Jugnu Mohsin in 1983.
Najam Sethi with his wife
They have two children, a son, Ali Sethi, who is a singer, and a daughter, Meera Sethi, who is an actress.
Najam Sethi’s children
Signature
Najam Sethi’s signature
journalism
Najam started his own publishing company, Vanguard Books, in 1978. In 1989, he launched an English weekly, The Friday Times, with his wife. He started an independent newspaper because he was unhappy that no newspaper reported his arrest in 1984 on copyright charges. The newspaper’s license was taken in his wife’s name because Najam was considered a criminal by the government. He got his license in 1987 and his wife also worked with him in the agency. They released the first issue in 1989. In 2002, he founded the Daily Times of Pakistan and served as editor until 2009. From 1990 to 2008, he worked as Pakistan correspondent for The Economist. In 2014, he hosted the primetime current affairs show ‘Aaps Ki Baat’ on Geo News.
Najam Sethi in the show ‘Aaps Ki Baat’
He was the Chairman of AAP Media Media Network/Indus News until 2018.
Politics
In the 2013 general elections, he was elected as the acting Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab by both the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) and the opposition PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz). Two months later, when Shehbaz Sharif was appointed the new Chief Minister, he left the post.
Cricket
In 2013, he was appointed as the interim chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the orders of the Islamabad High Court. In 2015, his name was shortlisted for the post of ICC President. On 21 December 2022, he was elected as the Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The statement given by the Prime Minister’s Office was,
The Prime Minister has seen and approved the proposal at para 7 of the Summary with the condition that the names of the Management Committee will be placed before the Union Cabinet.
controversies
Arrested during protest
In 1975, Najam came into controversy when he actively participated in the Socialist Movement for Balochistan. He left his studies and returned to Pakistan from London in 1973 to support the cause of Baloch nationalists. The Balochistan conflict began in 1971 when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) accused the National Awami Party of waging a separatist movement in Balochistan and rejected it because it was in power at the centre. The Baloch people started a war with the Pakistani army in which Najam participated and was arrested.
arrested for treason
Najam’s arrest in 1999 under the government of Nawaz Sharif created considerable controversy and attracted international attention. According to various reports, he was planning to appear on the BBC television show ‘Correspondent’ and talk about corruption in the country. In May 1999, several of his sources told him that the government was planning to arrest him because they felt that his interview with the BBC was meant to destabilize the government. After his arrest in May, his wife said that he was forcefully taken to jail by eight Punjab Police officers, who barged into their house and beat up his security guards. When he asked them for an arrest warrant, they threatened to kill Najam on the spot. They even locked him in a separate room and took away Najam. He was kept in jail for a month, but no charges were filed against him. He was kept in a detention center in Lahore where no one could visit him. A month after his arrest, as the government began to receive international criticism, he was arrested on 1 June on charges of ‘condemning the creation of the state and advocating the abolition of its sovereignty’ and ‘promoting enmity between different groups’. Took them into custody. , Amnesty International came out in his support and claimed that he was arrested because of giving an interview to BBC. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying that Najam should be produced in court as soon as possible. World Bank President James Wolfensohn asked Nawaz Sharif to release Najam. However, after his trial, due to insufficient evidence, he was released by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Tug with Tehmina Durrani
In 1999, Najam came into controversy when Tehmina Durrani accused him of mentally torturing her and stealing all her earnings from the book written by her. In June 1991, Tehmina wrote the book My Feudal Lord which was published by Vanguard Books. This book was based on the bitter experience of her marriage to a Pakistani politician named Mustafa Khar. It became popular and earned well, after which Durrani signed a contract with Najam’s wife Mohsin and gave her 50% of the foreign royalties. But in 1999, when Durrani could not contact Najam as he was in jail, he called a press conference and accused him of fraud. Najam had accused him of defamation after coming back from jail.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 1999: International Press Freedom Award from the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists
- 2009: Golden Pen of Freedom Award of the World Association of Newspapers
- 2011: Hilal-e-Imtiaz Award by the President of Pakistan
Facts/General Knowledge
- In 2008, he received death threats due to his editorials on religious fundamentalism, due to which he lived under tight security. Later in 2008, he created an editorial in which he portrayed Umm Hassan, the principal of a girls’ school, as telling young girls to kidnap Chinese women. She received death threats for the editorial because people compared it to the incident at Lal Masjid, where her husband Abdul Aziz Ghazi was a cleric and was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of six Chinese women who were accused of prostitution. Was accused of.
- He wanted Pakistani players to play not only Pakistan Super League but also other cricket formats. In an interview, he said that PCB wants Indian players to participate in PSL and Pakistani players should be allowed to participate in IPL. In the interview he further said,
We are going to try to convince the Indians to play with us in December. If that happens, we will also talk about a reciprocal arrangement – and I have had preliminary talks with people in Delhi on this – that Pakistani players are allowed to play in the IPL and Indian players are allowed to play in the PSL. Permission should be given.
- In 2017, he alleged that he was abused by a group of PTI supporters during the India vs Pakistan match in the ICC Champions Trophy final.
- In the 2018 Pakistan general election, when Imran Khan became the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Najam submitted his resignation from the post of President of Pakistan Cricket Board. He shared his resignation on Twitter and wrote,
I was waiting for the new Prime Minister to take oath before submitting my resignation as PCB Chairman, which I have done today. I wish the PCB all the best and hope that our cricket team will become stronger. Happy Eid. Pakistan Zindabad.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn