Our Team
Munizae Jahangir
Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder
Munizae Jahangir is a broadcast journalist, documentary filmmaker, and anchor of Aaj News’ Spotlight with Munizae Jahangir. Since 2004 Jahangir has been anchoring and reporting for prominent news media outlets in Pakistan, which include Dawn and Geo. She was the first Pakistani journalist to report for an Indian news channel, NDTV, as their country correspondent for 10 years.
Jahangir’s high profile interviews include Hillary Clinton, former Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shabana Azmi.
Jahangir has conducted cross border audience based talk shows with India and Afghanistan, and reported from Afghanistan, India, Nepal, South Africa, USA, United Kingdom, China, Switzerland and Myanmar. Jahangir’s first award winning documentary Search for Freedom depicted the lives of four women caught in the war in Afghanistan.
Jahangir was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She is on the board of AGHS Legal Aid Cell which provides free legal aid to marginalized groups. She is a founding member of South Asian Women in Media, and is Co-Chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Xari Jalil
Co-Founder/Editor
Xari Jalil has over 25 years of experience in journalism and has been associated in the past with major English mainstream print media such as The News International in Karachi and Dawn in Lahore, while also contributing for several publications both locally and internationally.
She is also an IVLP Fellow, and a Fellow of the Global Investigative Journalists Network (GIJN). Much of her work centers around human rights concerns, crime, socio-political issues, public health and environment and culture and lifestyle.
Among her many prominent stories is an investigative report on prison torture ‘Breaking Wills Broken Souls’.
Saroop Ijaz
Member of Working Committee
Saroop Ijaz is a lawyer and human rights activist based in Lahore. He is the senior counsel for Asia at Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). He is also a visiting faculty member at the Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS). Mr Ijaz has researched and written reports and done international and domestic advocacy on issues ranging from the fundamental rights of religious minorities in Pakistan and police reform to Afghan refugees to Pakistanis in prisons in Saudi Arabia – among many other topics. Prior to joining the Human Rights Watch in 2014, he was a consultant and adviser for the European Union, International Commission of Jurists, British Council and various other organizations. Mr Ijaz is a regular opinion writer and commentator for several notable Pakistani and international publications including The Los Angeles Times, Guardian, OpenDemocracy, Jurist, Dawn among others.
Arifa Noor
Member of Working Committee
Arifa Noor is a journalist with over twenty years of experience, working in various Pakistani publications. She has held senior editorial positions with the Dawn Media Group and currently hosts a current events show for Dawn News.
Ahmed Rashid
Member of Working Committee
Ahmed Rashid is a journalist based in Lahore, who has covered Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia for a variety of publications since 1979. He is the author of Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (2012); Descent into Chaos: The US and the Disaster in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia (2008); Jihad (2002); Taliban (2000); and The Resurgence of Central Asia (1994). Both Taliban and Descent into Chaos are on course lists at over 200 universities and defence colleges around the world. He has also recently published a book of his poetry titled This Side of the River (2022). Foreign Policy magazine chose him, twice, as one of the world’s most important 100 Global Thinkers in 2009 and 2010. In December 2009, he was appointed a member of the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and in 2018 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group. He has also served on the Board of Advisers for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva for five years.
Farzana Ali
Member of Working Committee
Farzana Ali is the bureau chief of Aaj TV in Peshawar, and for the past several years has reported on terrorist acts in the northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the conflict-ridden Tribal Areas.
Rashed Rahman
Member of Working Committee
Rashed Rahman is the former editor of one of Pakistan’s major English language newspapers, the Daily Times. He served as the editor from 2009 – November 2015.
Usama Khilji
Member of Working Committee
Usama Khilji is Director of Bolo Bhi, board member of the Global Network Initiative, and Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Systemic Inequality and Social Cohesion. He also writes a column in Dawn, Pakistan.
Maheen Paracha
She is a member of Working Committee.
Khushal Khan
He is a member of Working Committee.
Our Staff
Xari Jalil
Editor
Rehan Piracha
Output Editor
Ahmed Saeed
Chief Reporter
Muhammad Junaid
Social Media
Asra Haque
Project Coordinator
Farzana Ali
Consultant Editor
Iqra Manzoor
Reporter
Kaleem Ullah
Reporter
Aitzaz Ibrahim
Reporter
Ali Baig
Social Media
Our Correspondents
- Asim Ahmed Khan (Quetta)
- Nadeem Khan (Quetta)
- Sher Nadir (Gilgit Baltistan)
- Shafique Shar (Khairpur)
- Abdul Baseer Qalandar (Peshawar)
- Farooq Mehsud (D.I Khan)
- Fauzia Kulsoom Rana (Islamabad)
- Syed Taqi-ul-Hasan (Azad Kashmir)
- Syed Amir Taqvi (Kasur)
- Shaukat Ali Korai (Karachi)
- Wali Mohammad (Jacobabad)
- Ayoob Rajper (Jamshoro)
- Hidayatullah Achakzai (Chaman)
- Arshad Mohmand (Ex-FATA Region)
- Kashif Kokikhel (Khyber)
- Jamaima Afridi (Khyber District)
- Adnan Betani (Peshawar)