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Najam Aziz Sethi نجم عزیز سیٹھی | |
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![]() Najam Sethi at the launch ofPSL in 2015 | |
Chairman of thePakistan Cricket Board | |
In office 23 December 2022 – 22 June 2023 | |
Appointed by | Shehbaz Sharif |
President | Arif Alvi |
Prime Minister | Shehbaz Sharif |
Preceded by | Ramiz Raja |
Succeeded by | Zaka Ashraf |
In office 10 August 2017 – 20 August 2018 | |
Appointed by | Nawaz Sharif |
President | Mamnoon Hussain |
Prime Minister | Nawaz Sharif Imran Khan |
Preceded by | Shahryar Khan |
Succeeded by | Ehsan Mani |
In office 24 June 2013 – 16 May 2014 | |
Appointed by | Nawaz Sharif |
President | Mamnoon Hussain |
Prime Minister | Nawaz Sharif |
Preceded by | Zaka Ashraf |
Succeeded by | Shahryar Khan |
Chairman of thePakistan Super League | |
In office 20 September 2015 – 20 August 2018 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Ehsan Mani |
CaretakerChief Minister of Punjab | |
In office 27 March 2013 – 6 June 2013 | |
Preceded by | Shehbaz Sharif |
Succeeded by | Shehbaz Sharif |
Chairman ofMitchell's | |
In office 2020 – 10 November 2022[1] | |
Preceded by | S.M. Mohsin |
Succeeded by | Shahzad Ghaffar |
CEO ofMitchell's | |
Assumed office 10 November 2022[2][3] | |
Preceded by | Naila Bhatti |
Personal details | |
Born | Najam Abdul Aziz Sethi (1948-05-20)20 May 1948 (age 76) Kasur,West Punjab,Pakistan (present-dayPunjab, Pakistan) |
Spouse | |
Children | Mira Sethi (daughter) Ali Sethi (son) |
Alma mater | St. Anthony High School, Lahore |
Occupation | Journalist, TV Anchor |
Profession | Journalist Businessman |
Known for | Editor-in-ChiefThe Friday Times |
Awards | CPJ International Press Freedom Award (1999) Golden Pen of Freedom Award (2009) Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award in 2011[4] |
Website | najamsethi |
Najam Aziz Sethi (Punjabi:نجم سیٹھی}}; born 20 May 1948[5]) is a Pakistani journalist, businessman and cricket administrator. He is the currentchief executive officer (CEO) ofMitchell's. Previously, he served as the Chairman of thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in three different tenures and as a caretaker Federal Minister of Pakistan andChief Minister of Punjab one time. He is also the founder ofThe Friday Times andVanguard Books.
As a journalist, he is aleft-leaning political commentator who serves as the editor-in-chief ofThe Friday Times and formerly served as the Chairman of thePakistan Super League.[5] He has also served as thecaretakerchief minister of Punjab during the2013 election. He formerly used to host primetime current affairs showAapas ki Baat onGeo News.[6] He is currently the President of AAP Media Media Network /Indus News.[7]
Najam Sethi began his sociopolitical endeavours with thesocialist movement working for the rights ofBalochistan, leading to his arrest in 1975 before being discharged in 1978. He consequently left politics and establishedVanguard Books, a progressive book publishing company.[6]
In 1989, Sethi along with his wifeJugnu Mohsin launched an independent English weekly,The Friday Times. He was arrested by the secondNawaz Sharif government in 1999 on trumped-up charges of treason before being released by theSupreme Court of Pakistan. In 2002, he founded theDaily Times of Pakistan and became its editor until leaving in October 2009. He also served as the Pakistan correspondent ofThe Economist from 1990 to 2008.[6]
Sethi won the 1999International Press Freedom Award of the US-basedCommittee to Protect Journalists and the 2009World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award. On 26 March 2013, his name was approved for the interim position of the chief minister ofPunjab as a result of consensus between members of the selection committee comprising individuals from both the governing and the opposing political parties.[8] He took the oath on 27 March 2013, and left the office after the May 2013 elections on 6 June 2013.[9]
According to Sethi, he first conceived of the idea for an independent Pakistani newspaper out of frustration: while briefly imprisoned in 1984 on trumped-up copyright charges, no newspapers had protested his arrest. The following year, he andMohsin applied for a publishing licence under Mohsin's name, since Sethi was "too notorious an offender" to be use the application, Mohsin told him that she intended to publish "a social chit chat thing, you know, with lots of pictures of parties and weddings". It was finally approved in 1987, but Mohsin requested a one-year delay to avoid the first issue coming out during the dictatorship ofGeneral Zia ul Haq. The paper's first issue appeared in May 1989.[10]
In early 1999, Sethi gave an interview to a team for theBBC television showCorrespondent, which was planning to report on corruption in theNawaz Sharif government.[11] At the beginning of May, he was warned by contacts that his co-operation with the team was being interpreted by the Nawaz Sharif government as an attempt to destabilize it and that officials were planning Sethi's arrest.[11] On 8 May, he was taken from his home by personnel ofPunjab Police.[12] According to Sethi's wife Mohsin, at least eight armed officers broke into the house, assaulting the family's security guards; when asked to produce a warrant, one of them threatened simply to shoot Sethi on the spot. Mohsin was tied up and left locked in another room.[11]
Sethi was then held for almost a month without charge. He was kept incommunicado at a detention center inLahore.[13]Amnesty International stated its belief that his arrest was connected with his investigations intogovernment corruption, and designated him aprisoner of conscience.[14] The US-basedCommittee to Protect Journalists also sent a protest letter toPrime MinisterNawaz Sharif, noting the organisation's dismay "that the state continues its persecution of independent journalists",[13] andWorld Bank presidentJames Wolfensohn called Sharif to urge Sethi's release.
On 1 June, authorities charged Sethi with "Condemnation of the Creation of the State and Advocacy of Abolition of its Sovereignty" and "Promoting Enmity Between Different Groups" and transferred him to police custody. However, the following day, theSupreme Court of Pakistan ruled that the government had provided insufficient evidence to justify Sethi's detention. He was released, and the charges against him were dropped.[13]
In June 1991, Mohsin and Sethi's publishing company,Vanguard Books, releasedTehmina Durrani'sMy Feudal Lord, a "politically explosive" book about her marriage with leading politicianMustafa Khar. In the book, Durrani alleges that Khar mistreated and abused her. It was an "instant sensation" and later became the "hottest book in Pakistan's history". Durrani signed a contract vesting foreign rights with Mohsin and giving her 50% of foreign royalties.[15]
On 19 May 1999, however—during Sethi's one-month incommunicado detention—Durrani called apress conference to denounce him as having stolen all of her earnings from the book, stating that his actions were "an even bigger case of hypocrisy than my experience with the feudal system". Durrani sued Sethi for mental torture, and he countersued for defamation. An earlier dispute over the foreign rights had been settled out of court in 1992. A review of the contracts by the UK newspaperThe Independent described Sethi as acting in good faith and described him and Mohsin as "the injured party".[15]
In 2008, when Sethi's newspapers ran a series of editorials opposingreligious fundamentalism, theTaliban threatened him with death, causing him to live under constant guard.[16][17] Sethi also received death threats in July 2008 for publishing an editorial cartoon showing Umme Hassaan, principal of a girls' school, encouraging young women inburqas to "kidnap Chinese masseuses". The joke referred toLal Masjid, the fundamentalist Masjid at which her husbandAbdul Aziz Ghazi was acleric; the mosque had kidnapped six Chinese prostitutes, leading to Ghazi's arrest.[18][19]
Najam Sethi was appointed as the caretakerChief Minister of Punjab on 26 March 2013, for the2013 Pakistani general election, which were scheduled to be held on 11 May 2013. His name was presented by the opposition,PPP, and the governing party,PML(N) agreed on it. He was then chosen to be the caretaker Chief Minister.[20][21][22] On 6 June 2013, he was replaced by the newly elected leaderShehbaz Sharif.[23] PTI, the party that lost the 2013 elections, had accused Najam Sethi of fixing the elections in 35 constituencies and famously called them the 35 punctures.[24]
Nawaz Sharif, thePrime minister at the time, appointed him as the acting chairman of thePakistan Cricket Board after theIslamabad High Court ordered the appointment of an interim chairman until a pending case on the serving chairman, Zaka Ashraf, was decided. Later, a two-member bench of Islamabad high court cleared Zaka Ashraf and ordered his restoration as chairman PCB. Sethi then relinquished chairmanship.[25]
In August 2017, Sethi was elected unanimously as PCB chairman for a second time after no other member of the Board of Governors stood for the position.[26] AfterImran Khan was elected into power after the2018 general elections, Najam Sethi resigned as Chairman of PCB.[27] Shortly after his resignation,Imran Khan announced that formerICC PresidentEhsan Mani would succeed Sethi.[28]
After Imran Khan was ousted from government through avote of no confidence in April 2022, Sethi was appointed the Chairman of the PCB Management Committee for a third term in December 2022, along with 13 board members by the new prime minister,Shehbaz Sharif.[29] They were given the task to restore the PCB's 2014 constitution, whilst scrapping the 2019 constitution set underEhsan Mani, within four months. However in April 2023, the Management Committee was given a further two-month extension.[30]On 20 June 2023, Najam Sethi made an announcement via twitter expressing his unwillingness to continue pursuing the Chairmanship during his third term as Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Citing concerns over potential instability and uncertainty, Sethi decided not to be considered as a candidate for the position.[31] He was succeeded by Zaka Ashraf as the 37th Chairman of thePakistan Cricket Board on 5 July 2023.[32]
Sethi is married to fellow journalistJugnu Mohsin, the publisher ofThe Friday Times. Najam Sethi's daughter is a journalist and actressMira Sethi.[5][33]
In 1999, Sethi and Mohsin were both given theInternational Press Freedom Award of the US-basedCommittee to Protect Journalists, which recognises journalists who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment.[13] Ten years later, he was awarded the 2009Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of theWorld Association of Newspapers.[17][13]Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award in 2011 by thePresident of Pakistan.[4]
Najam Sethi has authored several books,[34] including:
This book examines the political dynamics and challenges during Nawaz Sharif's tenure as Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993, analyzing the events that led to the dismissal of his government.
An analysis of Benazir Bhutto's second term as Prime Minister, detailing the political strategies and circumstances that culminated in the end of her administration.
Written in Urdu, this book provides an account of the events during Imran Khan's tenure as Prime Minister from 2018 to 2022, focusing on the administration's policies and challenges.
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | Caretaker 27 March 2013 – 6 June 2013 | Succeeded by |