Freedom Network thanks the following persons, who consented to voluntarily serve as members of Freedom Network Board of Advisors taking responsibility to guide the media watchdog from 1st January 2025.
Freedom Network thanks Khalid Aziz (former KP chief secretary), late Muhammad Ziauddin (former editor), Rukhshanda Naz (women’s rights activist) and Syed Ali Shah (journalist from Baluchistan) for being the founding members of FN Board of Advisors who guided the organization through difficult times when the organization was new and challenges were immense. May Khalid Aziz and Muhammad Ziauddin rest in peace.
The new members of Freedom Network Board of Advisors are:
Benazir Shah
She is the editor of Geo Fact Check, a dedicated service by Geo News that counters misinformation and disinformation online.
With over a decade of reporting experience in Pakistan, Shah received the United Nations Correspondents Association award in 2013 for her coverage of the polio campaign. Her work has been featured in BBC Urdu, Al Jazeera, Newsweek.com, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, and The Caravan.
She also appears as a political analyst on Geo News’s program Report Card.
Farzana Ali
She is working as journalist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for last more than 26 year. She is Bureau Chief of Aaj News channel inn Peshawar for last 12 years, She is the first women bureau chief in KP. Most of her work evolves around human rights, terrorism and Pak-Afghan issues specifically women-based stories. She worked on documentaries also. During the Taliban-linked militancy, she focused on issues relating to internally displaced women, affected by terrorism. She did fellowship on militarization, war reporting, GBV issue and produced documentaries on these issues. For last 10 years, she is also associated with some development organizations as trainer and mentor. She is regional coordinator for Women’s Media Forum Pakistan (WMFP) for KP.
Mazhar Abbas
He works as journalist from 1982 starting career with a Karachi-based evening newspaper The Star. He worked for print and electronic media, including six years as AFP bureau chief in Karachi during which he extensively covered murder of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Switched to broadcast journalism in 2007. Beside hosting TV shows he has also served as Director News, ARY News, Director Current Affairs with Express News before joining Geo News channel in 2014. He had written over 6000 articles in national and international media and conducted over 500 tv shows.
He is an active trade unionist alsi. Held top positions such as president, general-secretary of Karachi Union of Journalists, secretary-general of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists twice and secretary of Karachi Press Club, thrice. Led the movement against ban on TV channels during General Pervez Musharraf’s military rule in November, 2007
Was recipient of the International Press Freedom Award in 2007 by Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and Missouri Honor Medal by Missouri School of Journalism in 2009. for fighting for the cause of freedom of the Press and for professional excellence.
Also a co-author and convener of PFUJ special committee, which had published a book on 70 years of PFUJ struggle – ‘From Layoff to Lashes.’ Two of his books in Urdu, “Aur Pher…. Yun Hua and Selector Sey Selected Tak,” based on his column published in Daily Jang.
Peter Jacob
Peter Jacob is a human rights expert, researcher, and freelance journalist, working since 1988. Now, he runs Centre for Social Justice as Executive Director. He studied Political Science, Rural Development and Law in Pakistan and the United States.
He works closely with the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s Implementation Commission on the judgment for the protection of minorities’ rights (19 June 2014). He served as a member of the National Curriculum Council (Ministry of Federal Education) also.
Jacob regularly contributes Op-Ed pieces for different media organizations, including Express Tribune, The News International, and Dawn. His work is widely acknowledged internationally, including the US State Department’s Religious Freedom Award 2023.
Faizullah Jan, Ph.D
I have been teaching at the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Peshawar, Pakistan, since 2000. With a Ph.D. in Communication from American University, Washington, D.C., I have authored a research book on the discourse of militant organizations in Pakistan. I have also contributed four chapters to edited books by international publishers.
Before joining the University of Peshawar, I worked in The Frontier Post newspaper, one of the country’s most influential English-language publications. I started as a Sub-Editor and left the paper as Edition In Charge. Besides editing news, I regularly published news analyses, op-eds, and features on issues of public interest.
I have also been a regular trainer of journalists with international organizations, such as the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), USIP, and DW, among others. These trainings have focused on the safety of journalists, especially those working in conflict zones, development journalism, and peace journalism.
