25 Facts About Najam Sethi

Najam Aziz Sethi is a Pakistani journalist, businessman and cricket administrator.

Najam Sethi is the current chief executive officer of Mitchell's.

Najam Sethi is the founder of The Friday Times and Vanguard Books.

Najam Sethi has served as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab during the 2013 election.

Najam Sethi formerly used to host primetime current affairs show Aapas ki Baat on Geo News.

Najam Sethi began his sociopolitical endeavours with the socialist movement working for the rights of Balochistan, leading to his arrest in 1975 before being discharged in 1978.

Najam Sethi consequently left politics and established Vanguard Books, a progressive book publishing company.

Najam Sethi was arrested by the second Nawaz Sharif government in 1999 on trumped-up charges of treason before being released by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Najam Sethi served as the Pakistan correspondent of The Economist from 1990 to 2008.

Najam Sethi won the 1999 International Press Freedom Award of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists and the 2009 World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award and Courage in Journalism Award from Amnesty International.

Najam Sethi took the oath on 27 March 2013, and left the office after the May 2013 elections on 6 June 2013.

In early 1999, Najam Sethi gave an interview to a team for the BBC television show Correspondent, which was planning to report on corruption in the Nawaz Sharif government.

Najam Sethi was then held for almost a month without charge.

Najam Sethi was kept incommunicado at a detention center in Lahore.

Najam Sethi was released, and the charges against him were dropped.

In June 1991, Mohsin and Najam Sethi's publishing company, Vanguard Books, released Tehmina Durrani's My Feudal Lord, a "politically explosive" book about her marriage with leading politician Mustafa Khar.

In 2008, when Najam Sethi's newspapers ran a series of editorials opposing religious fundamentalism, the Taliban threatened him with death, causing him to live under constant guard.

Najam Sethi received death threats in July 2008 for publishing an editorial cartoon showing Umme Hassaan, principal of a girls' school, encouraging young women in burqas to "kidnap Chinese masseuses".

Najam Sethi was appointed as the caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab on 26 March 2013, for the 2013 Pakistani general election, which were scheduled to be held on 11 May 2013.

Najam Sethi was then chosen to be the caretaker Chief Minister.

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.

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.

Najam Sethi was succeeded by Zaka Ashraf as the 37th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board on 5 July 2023.

Najam Sethi is married to fellow journalist Jugnu Mohsin, the publisher of The Friday Times.

Najam Sethi's daughter is a journalist and actress Mira Sethi.