Farhatullah Babar

Farhatullah Babar transitioned from journalism into politics and human rights activism, serving as the Secretary General of the PPP, as a senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for three terms, and as the editor of the English daily Frontier Post. Currently, he is the President of the Human Rights Cell of the Pakistan People’s Party and a Council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). A civil engineer by profession, he served as an Engineering Manager in a multinational company in Saudi Arabia.

He also served as Spokesperson and Speech Writer to Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and as Spokesperson to President Asif Ali Zardari (2008-2013). He was the chair of the Special Senate Committee on Right to Information (RTI) and the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the South Punjab province.

He served on the Senates of the University of Peshawar and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) Islamabad, as well as on the Syndicate of Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. A Life Member of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, he is a recipient of the civil award Hilal-i-Imtiaz.