SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Blasphemy and the erosion of democracy and secular space in Pakistan: a blueprint for the future

Facilitated/hosted by Nasreen Rehman, Chair, British Muslims for Secular Democracy.

Biography

Najam Sethi  is an award winning Pakistani journalist and media personality, and the editor-in-chief of The Friday Times, a Lahore based weekly. He was previously the editor of Daily Times and Daily Aajkal newspapers. He is currently the Editor in Chief of Geo News where he hosts a popular political program: “aapas ki baat”. He is the only journalist in Asia to receive three international press freedom awards within a decade.

Sethi was a political prisoner from 1975-1977 during the regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for protesting military action in Balochistan. In Sethi was a political prisoner from 1975-1977 during the regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for protesting military action in Balochistan. In 1984, the regime of General Zia ul Haq put him in prison for one month for publishing “From Jinnah To Zia”, a book authored by the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Mohammad Munir. The book was a sort of mea culpa in which the author had admitted his grave error in legitimizing the first martial law in Pakistan in 1958, thereby paving the way for Gen Zia’s martial law in 1977.

In 1989, along with his wife, Jugnu Mohsin, he launched The Friday Times (TFT), an independent national weekly, which espouses secular internationalism, humanrights, regional peace and democracy. Newsweek Magazine described himin the1990s as a “crusading editor” for exposing corruption.

All Welcome