Aasma Sherazi

Asma Shirazi is a senior Pakistani journalist and political commentator who currently hosts a primetime current-affairs show on Hum News.

Early life and education Born in Islamabad in 1976, Shirazi is a member of The Coalition For Women In Journalism.

Career Shirazi began her career with PTV in 2000, moved to Geo News in 2002 and would go on to acquire a diverse variety of experience as a reporter and anchor with numerous channels. with Dawn News.

Shirazi has also reported from the front on numerous conflicts that include the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Taliban violence on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2009 as well as the state of emergency announced by General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan in 2007. She also covered the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. She also hosted two popular television talk shows, including one on parliamentary affairs named Parliament Cafeteria that President Pervez Musharraf banned when he clamped down on independent news coverage. Shirazi joined BOL News on 24 October 2014 as Executive Vice President and Senior Anchorperson.

Slate reported that, when Jan questioned her about the trip, Shirazi defended her decision by saying that she had been misled about the funding. She subsequently stated that she still would have gone even if she had known that the trip was publicly funded. She argued that Jan should go after "real big criminals," such as journalists who allegedly received land as bribes and then agreed to repay the money. Jan criticised Shirazi, telling her that as taxpayers were hungry for food and thirsting for water and "scrounging for every cent they can get," she spent "hundreds of thousands of rupees to go on a free ride to the pilgrimage." The award is given annually to a single journalist who has demonstrated a great commitment to unbiased reporting and to upholding media freedoms. Shirazi's award pays "tribute to the courage of those who fight for freedom of information in Pakistan, where seven journalists were murdered in connection with their work in 2013," said Delphine Halgand, the Director of Reporters Without Borders.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has also recognized her momentous contribution. "AFP is happy to be associated with this recognition of Asma Shirazi's great courage and perseverance in reporting on conflict and politics in Pakistan despite the personal dangers she faced," said David Millikin, AFP's director for North America.