Moeed Pirzada


Moeed Hasan Pirzada is a Pakistani-British political commentator, geostrategic analyst and a television news journalist. He hosts a program on 92 News called 'Hard Talk'. He has interviewed many politicians around the world. He wrote columns for national newspapers.

Personal life

One of four siblings, with a sister and two brothers, his late father, Dr Ghulam Mohiuddin Pirzada, originally from Srinagar, has been hailed as "the oldest physician of Mirpur" in Azad Kashmir as well as "the first highly-qualified medical specialist in Mirpur since the city resurfaced as new modern township following the construction of Mangla dam in 1967."

Career

He did MBBS from Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore and later on he secured 17th position in CSS exam.
Previously, he has worked with Waqt News and hosted Tonight With Moeed Pirzada Program, he has also been a Director World Affairs and Content Head of PTV News and hosted the famous talk show Sochta Pakistan, a program that discussed national, regional, strategic, social and educational issues with politicians, analysts and policy makers. He has worked with Dunya News-TV channel as a Director World Affairs and hosted the current affairs talk show Dunya Today. He written for Dubai-based regional paper Khaleej Times. His columns have appeared in major Pakistani papers such as Dawn, The News International, Daily Times, Friday Times and blogs. He has attended national and international conferences, seminars and policy workshops and had been a member of the Prime Minister's Education Task Force, that collaborated with the British Council to produce the Next Generation Report. He has contributed policy papers to Islamabad Policy Research Institute and also written several policy pieces for Pique Magazine. He is an Executive Director of Governance & Policy Advisors, that provides consultancy services to the government institutions, development organizations and corporate bodies on issues related to media, governance, health policy and regional peace. Pirzada now hosts program "Hard Talk" on 92 News.

Media achievements

As a TV journalist, he has interviewed Pakistani and international decision makers including Benazir Bhutto, David Cameron, Hamid Karzai, Mahmood Abbas, William Dalrymple, Jaswant Singh, Richard Holbrooke, Mike Mullen and British politician George Galloway. He has covered the strategic dialogue between US and Pakistan as well as several talks between India and Pakistan including the meeting of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf with Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh at the Non-Aligned Summit in Havana in 2006. He has covered the Pakistani Military action in Swat valley and the IDP crises in 2009. In September 2009, Anne W. Patterson appeared on his program and repudiated the existence of US Contractors "Black Water" in Pakistan; a claim that was proved untrue when Raymond Allen Davis was arrested in Lahore in January 2011. When Pirzada was moderating the interaction of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton with young Pakistani civil society activists and entrepreneurs on 21 October 2011, in Islamabad's Serena Hotel, a student created giggles by branding the American government as the 'mother-in-law of all Pakistanis'. Pirzada had also moderated Clinton's first controversial interaction with TV anchors in October 2009, when Clinton had remarked that if Pakistanis do not want the Kerry Lugar Bill aid then they should boldly reject it.