Raza Rumi
Raza Ahmad | |
---|---|
Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Website | razarumi |
Raza (Ahmad) Rumi is a Pakistani policy analyst[1], journalist[2] and an author[3]. He has been a development practitioner for more than two decades[4]. He is Visiting Faculty at Cornell Institute for Public Affairs and has taught earlier at Ithaca College and New York University. Rumi has been a fellow at New America Foundation (2014); United States Institute of Peace (Sept 2014-March 2015) and a visiting fellow at National Endowment for Democracy.[5] He is also a member of think tank at the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.[6]
As a journalist, Raza is affiliated with the Daily Times (Pakistan). Earlier he worked with The Friday Times,[7] Pakistan's foremost liberal weekly paper as a writer and an editor for a decade. Raza is also a commentator for several publications which include Foreign Policy,[8] Huffington Post,[9] New York Times,[10] The Diplomat,[11] Fair Observer,[12] CNN [13] and Al Jazeera, [14] Daily O,[15] Scroll India,[16] The Hindu,[17] Indian Express,[18] The News,[19] Dawn,[20] and Express Tribune.[21]
In Pakistan, he also worked in the broadcast media as an analyst and hosted talk shows at Capital TV and Express News. Raza was also a Director at Jinnah Institute, a public policy think tank and Executive Director of Justice Network - a coalition of NGOs.[22]
Prior to his foray into journalism and public affairs, Raza worked at the Asian Development Bank as a Governance Specialist.[23] His areas of focus included decentralization, access to justice, institutional development and led projects in several South and Southeast Asian countries. At ADB, he also edited two publications on public administration and participatory budget making. Later, as an international development professional, Raza has also worked on designing and implementing projects for UK’s Department For International Development, UNDP, UNICEF World Bank, among others.[24] Until recently, Raza also led the Network for Asia Pacific Schools & Institutes of Public Administration and Governance. His academic papers have covered areas such as federalism, public policy choices, access to justice, citizen rights, etc.
Raza’s work as a public policy practitioner builds on his stint with the Government of Pakistan’s Administrative Service and United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo where he acted as a municipal administrator in charge of local governance. In 1994, he entered the Pakistani civil service after topping the countrywide competitive examination.[25]
Education
Raza holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and master's degree in Social Planning, both from the London School of Economics.[26]
Career
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Raza started his career in the Government of Pakistan as an officer of the administrative services. He was Assistant Commissioner, sub divisional magistrate of Murree.
In 2000, he was selected by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo as a Civil Affairs Officer and for other municipal administration assignments.
In 2002, he joined the Asian Development Bank as a Governance Specialist.
In 2008, Raza returned to Pakistan on a sabbatical and joined The Friday Times as a features editor. Shortly, he was also given the charge of news desk and he was the news and features editor of the publication for a few years. He is still on the editorial board of The Friday Times and works as the consulting/commissioning editor.
Since 2010, Raza has been a regular commentator on Pakistani television. In 2013 he started hosting a current affairs talk show on Capital TV entitled Seedhi Baat. In January 2014 he joined Express News where he was hosting a current affairs show "Khabar Sey Agay".
In 2012, Rumi became director of the Jinnah Institute, a policy think thank.[27]
He is also Visiting Faculty at Cornell Institute for Public Affairs and has taught earlier at Ithaca College and New York University. Rumi has been a fellow at the New America Foundation, United States Institute of Peace and the National Endowment for Democracy. He remains a nonresident fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.[28]
Assassination attempt
On 28 March 2014, Raza was attacked by a group of assailants reportedly members of the Taliban-affiliate Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for his anti-LeJ views. Raza survived the attack, but his driver, Mustafa, was killed.[29][30][31] On this incident, the former director of Human Rights Watch wrote: "Miraculously, he emerged unscathed from the hail of gunfire intended for him. Raza is now in a secure location—outside Pakistan. He had no choice but to leave as the authorities felt no embarrassment in letting him know that they could not guarantee his life if he stepped outside his Lahore home. Some weeks later, the police “caught” the would-be-assassins who belong to the dreaded Taliban-affiliate Lahkar-e-Jhangvi. But police custody curtails neither the power of these terrorists nor the impunity with which they kill.."[32]
Books authored
He is the author of several books:
- Delhi by Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveller, ISBN 9350294184
- The Fractious Path: Pakistan’s Democratic Transition, ISBN 9351777308
- Identity, Faith and Conflict, ASIN B01MTZEI91
- Being Pakistani: Society Culture and the Arts, ISBN 9352776054 a collection of essays published in June 2018 by Harper Collins, India.
References
- ^ "Raza Rumi profile". Jinnah Institute. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Raza Rumi archives". Daily Times.
{{cite web}}
: Text "accessdate-12 September 2018" ignored (help) - ^ "Raza Rumi books". Amazon. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ http://nhdr.undp.org.pk/raza-ahmad-rumi/
- ^ "Raza Ahmad Rumi profile". NED. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ https://globallab.georgetown.edu/people/raza-ahmad-rumi/
- ^ {cite web|title=Raza Rumi - The Friday Times|url=http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/author/raza-rumi/%7Cwebsite=The Friday Times|accessdat=12 September 2018}}
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". The Diplomat. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". Fair Observer. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". CNN. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". Daily O. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". Scroll.In. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Author News - The Hindu". The Hindu.
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(help) - ^ "Author Raza Rumi". The Indian Express. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Raza Rumi Archives - TNS - The News on Sunday". The News on Sunday. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ {{cite web}title=News stories for Raza Rumi - DAWN.COM|url=https://www.dawn.com/authors/420%7Cwebsite=Dawn%7Caccessdate=12 September 2018}}
- ^ "Author Raza Rumi". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ http://jinnah-institute.org/the-jinnah-institute-team/
- ^ https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29671/napsipag.pdf
- ^ http://pasarc.org/members.html
- ^ http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-datesheets-results/css-result-datesheet/css-1980-1999/105385-allocation-22nd-ctp.html
- ^ "Raza Rumi profile". Jinnah Institute. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Pakistan Taliban splits over 'un-Islamic' practices". CNN. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/raza-rumi
- ^ "Express News anchor Raza Rumi targeted in gun attack". Express Tribunes. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Columnist, anchor Raza Rumi attacked, driver loses life". Dawn. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Conflict Coverage Proves Deadly Job for Journalists". NYT. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ "Ali Dayan Hasan: The Wrong Kind of Pakistani".