Aftab Iqbal is a Pakistani businessman, television host, and journalist who founded Aap Media Group. He is a former host of TV programs Hasb-e-Haal on Dunya TV, Khabarnaak on Geo TV, Khabardaar on Express News and Khabarzar on Aap News. He currently hosts Khabaryar on Neo News. His presence on digital media is through his YouTube channel GupShup With Aftab Iqbal started on January 7, 2017. In October 2018, he launched his TV Channel Aap News, where he fulfilled administrative affairs. In January 2020 he left his own channel and has now joined Neo News and currently hosts a show Khabaryar. He also introduced digital shows Open Mic Cafe, Amaniyat and Dialogue With History on his own YouTube channel GWAI.
Life and career
Aftab Iqbal was born on 19 September 1961 in Arain Family. He received his master's degree from Government College University in 1985 and then went on to get a diploma in History of Mass Communications from San Jose State University in California in 1986. He then worked as a reporter from 1986 to 1987 and held some positions in the private sector companies of Pakistan. Then he briefly worked as a 'Media Advisor' to Chief Minister of Punjab from 1994 to 1995. After that, he used to write a column in Nawa-i-Waqt newspaper from 1995 to 2010. He is the son of well-known poet Zafar Iqbal who also has been writing columns for different Pakistani newspapers for over 35 years. Many people in Pakistan give him credit for playing a key role in boosting the viewership and TV ratings at three different Pakistani TV channels in the recent years.
He also used to write this program's script and, as a host of the show, used to try to keep it focused on the political comedy and satire and not let it wander aimlessly. The crew and cast of Khabarnaak used to do parodies or mimicries of Pakistan's known politicians like Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Rehman Malik, Shahbaz Sharif, Anwar Maqsood, Pakistani TV personalityTariq Aziz and pop music artist Ali Azmat among many others. Aftab Iqbal also used to include a short educational segment in this program, called Zabaan-o-Bayaan in which he used to point out the pronunciation errors in commonly used. His wife Nasreen Aftab has been appointed as Principal of Lahore College of Women University, Lahore, attracting ire from the opposition parties who think that Aftab Iqbal has been rewarded for supporting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government which is in power in Pakistan in 2019. In 2019 Aftab Iqbal was playing in a new show Khabarzar on his own news channel Aap TV, which he left at the beginning of January 2020. Now he has started his new show Khabaryar at Neo News, where he conducts three new shows and one Best of Khabaryar every week. Nowadays he his not hosting on Neo news he has launched two new shows from his digital platform GWAI.
