Khaled Ahmed

Khaled Ahmed is a Pakistani political analyst. He is an editor of Pakistan's weekly newspaper "The Friday Times", and also writes for the newspaper, The Daily Times, both published from Lahore.

History

He was born in 1943 in Jullundher, India, and settled in Lahore after the partition of India. Ahmed received his masters in English literature from Government College, Lahore. After leaving the foreign service of Pakistan, he adopted journalism as a profession, serving as an editor of the daily "Frontier Post" and the daily "The Nation" in Lahore.

One aspect of his writing is the analysis of the Urdu press in Pakistan. He routinely attacks what he sees as conspiracy theories in the Urdu press, and often blends humor into his analyses. This section, known as "Nuggets from the Urdu Press," appears in both The Friday Times and The Daily Times. He also writes on issues concerning languages.

Ahmed also authors a column called "Word for Word" in which he analyzes the roots of Urdu words as a basis for commentary on Islam and society.

"Below is his full Bio:"

Born 21 December 1943.

Education:

MA English Government College Lahore. First Position in the University 1969.

Roll of Honour 1969.

Editor The Ravi 1968-69 (under chief editor).

Post-Graduate Diploma in International Affairs (1969) Punjab University.

Diploma in Interpretership (Russian) Moscow State University (1970).

Career:

2005 Consulting Editor of The Friday Times weekly Lahore since 1993.

From 1993 to 1997 was also editor of the Urdu weekly Ajkal.

1990 to 1993 was editor of English daily The Frontier Post Lahore.

1988 to 1990 was joint editor of The Nation (daily) Lahore.

1978 to 1988 was assistant editor at The Pakistan Times (daily). During the tenure at The Pakistan Times, won a fellowship in the United States and worked for three months at The Christian Science Monitor, Boston.

1969 to 1978 was third secretary in the Pakistan Foreign Service and was posted to Moscow and Prague with expertise in Russian language and Soviet affairs.

Awarded Presidential commendation in 1973 for writing a special report from Moscow.

Activities:

1991 to 1993 was one of the founder members of Indo-Pak Neemrana Dialogue, track-two diplomacy.

1992 participated in the Kashmir dialogue between India and Pakistan at Washington's Institute of Peace.

1995 was member of the Pakistan delegation to Moscow and read a paper there on Pak-Russian bilateral trade.

1995 was participant at a New Delhi discussion on Indo-Pak relations organised by Time magazine.

1996 was a SAARC observer of the Bangladesh national elections and wrote the SAARC report on the status of the minorities in Bangladesh.

1996 read a paper on Indo-Pak trade at a US-sponsored seminar in Islamabad.

1996 was delegate of Pakistan Group of Environmentalist Journalists to an Asian conference at Bangkok organised by UNDP.

1997 was invited as observer to elections in Scotland and wrote about Scottish parliament.

1997 was member of the US-sponsored Travelling Dialogue in New Delhi and Bombay.

1998 attended the UN discussion on Palestine organised in New Delhi by the United Nations.

1999 Attended World Bank conference on democracy and globalisation in Seoul, South Korea.

2000 Wrote a paper on the Nuclearisation of South Asia at Stimson Center, Washington.

2004 Participated in Pugwash meeting in New Delhi and spoke on SAARC free trade plans.

Journalistic contributions:

(Book) Pakistan: Behind the Ideological Mask (Vanguard Books Lahore 2000)

(Book) Pakistan: the State in Crisis (Vanguard Books Lahore 2001)

(Book) A Bridge of Words (Vanguard Books Lahore 1999)

(Book) Inharafat (Urdu) (Takhkliqat Lahore 1998)

(Book) Qaid-e-Azam kay Khandani Jhagray (Urdu) (Takhliqat Lahore 1999)

Contributed to Outlook (New Delhi) and to Gulf Today in Sharja, also to other publications in India. Wrote up the special number of Himal (a Kathmandu weekly) on Jinnah.

Contributed a chapter on fundamentalism Harper-Collins book, On the Abyss, on Pakistan.

Lectured at the Civil Service Academy, Lahore, and the Administrative Staff College, Lahore, regularly over the years.

Lectured on the Gulf and the UN at the Naval War College, Lahore.

Contributed to panel discussions at the National Defence College, Islamabad, including the subject of International Security Systems and Security in South Asia, in 2003.

Lectured at NDC on the current crisis of the state in Pakistan.

Lecture at Berkeley University on Jihad in February 2001.

Attended Brookings conference on US and the Islamic World at Doha in November 2002.

Member of Pugwash Conference Pakistan Chapter relating to India and Pakistan.

Spoke on "Media in Pakistan" in Boston, USA 2004.

New Delhi in 2005 read a paper on "India's disputes with its Neighbouring States".

Wrote chapter on Urdu writers in Lahore in the 1960s in a Lahore anthology by Bapsi Sidhwa (Penguin)

External links

Talk with Farid Zakria (interview is towards the end):

*http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5179399964863073011&q=fareed+zak

Talks with History - at Berkley 2001

*http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Ahmed/ahmed-con0.html

* [http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Ahmed/ahmed-con0.html Conversations with History, UC Berkeley, February 19, 2002.]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_20-11-2004_pg3_5 Fear and loathing of Hisba Bill - Khaled Ahmed’s Urdu press Review, Daily Times, 20 November, 2004.]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_18-3-2005_pg3_3 Hajj: primal therefore satisfying —Khaled Ahmed Urdu Press Review, Daily Times, 18 March, 2005.]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_25-3-2005_pg3_5 Sectarian tit for tat - Khaled Ahmed Urdu Press Review, Daily Times, 25 March, 2005.]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_18-2-2005_pg3_5 No foreigners in North Waziristan? - Khaled Ahmed Urdu Press Review, Daily Times, 18 February, 2005.]
* [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk Daily Times.]