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Articles by Amir Zia


Amir Zia is a senior Pakistan-based journalist and currently works for SAMAA as director of news and current affairs.

News & Politics »

[28 Feb 2010 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
The Battle for Karachi

Are the criminalisation of politics and politicisation of crime the biggest problems in Karachi?

News & Politics, People, Q & A »

[28 Feb 2010 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Interview: Waseem Ahmed

“Criminals have entered every political party,” says Waseem Ahmed, Capital City Police Officer in Karachi.

News & Politics, People, Q & A »

[28 Feb 2010 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Interview: Abdul Qadir Patel

“There is no den of heroin or of weapons in Lyari,” says Abdul Qadir Patel, MNA, Pakistan Peoples Party,

News & Politics »

[28 Feb 2010 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Beyond the Grave

Rehman Dakait may have been killed last year but his legacy remains in the shape of the Peoples Amn Committee.

News & Politics »

[14 Nov 2009 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Money Matters

The decentralised networks of militant groups have many sources of generating funds, including local and foreign Islamic charities, bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in Karachi.

News & Politics, People, Q & A »

[30 Sep 2009 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Interview: Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri

Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri is seen as the kingpin of the radical Baloch nationalist movement, which explicitly demands an independent Balochistan. Never one to mince words, he has this to say about the decades-old problems plaguing Balochistan: “We cannot live with the Punjabis. There is no room for compromise in my book. We have to get rid of them.”

News & Politics »

[29 May 2009 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Recipe for Disaster

Is the National Assembly already beginning to regret its near unanimous approval of the Nizam-e-Adl as the Taliban extend their writ in parts of Malakand?

People, Profiles »

[5 Apr 2009 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
A Star Bows Out

Sabihuddin Ghausi stressed the power of facts. Tell your story as simply as possible: a news story based on strong facts does not need the crutches of adjectives and flowery language, remained the crux of his message. And he practiced what he preached – both in his incisive news reports and his articles.

News & Politics »

[5 Jan 2009 | One Comment | Amir Zia]

Jamaat-ud-Dawa claims that it is a charity organisation that is being wrongly accused of fronting for their banned militant parent organisation, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

News & Politics »

[5 Jan 2009 | No Comment | Amir Zia]
Out in the Cold

Pressure on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa increases as India persuades the UNSC to impose sanctions against them for their alleged involvement in the Mumbai carnage.