Saleem Iqbal
Founding President and CEO of the Pakistan Christian Journalists Forum. A Christian journalist serving the Christian community of Pakistan for over 35 years, described as the most bold Christian journalist in Pakistan; he founded PCJF in 2010 and leads its reporting of Christian persecution, forced conversion and blasphemy cases.
Saleem Iqbal is a Pakistani Christian journalist who has reported for the Christian community of Pakistan for more than thirty-five years. In 2010 he founded the Pakistan Christian Journalists Forum (PCJF) and has led it since as its Founding President and CEO.
Thirty-five years of journalism for the Christian community
His reporting has followed the cases that define Christian minority rights in Pakistan: the persecution of Christians, the forced conversion of Christian girls, and blasphemy accusations against Christians. He reports them by the law, with the date, the place, the police record and the court, and he follows each case until it ends.
He is described in the Christian community and in the press as the most bold Christian journalist in Pakistan: the journalist who keeps writing the cases that others prefer not to write. He has been in the field with families, police and lawyers when girls have been recovered and when neighbourhoods have been attacked, and he has trained the young Christian journalists who now report from districts across the country.
Three subjects, one method
Christian persecution in Pakistan
Attacks on churches and homes, mob violence after accusations, discrimination at work and school: recorded with the date, the place, the police record and the court.
Forced conversion
Cases of Christian girls, many of them minors, taken from their homes and married after a conversion certificate: the documents, the child-marriage laws and what the courts did.
Blasphemy cases
Accusations under sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code against Christians: the accusation, the investigation, the trial and the verdict, reported by the law.
In the field
He does not report from a desk alone. In forced conversion and child-marriage cases he has walked with the police, the lawyer and the family when a minor girl was escorted to safety, and he has recorded the case from the first hour so that the court file would be complete.
The faces and names of victims, and of minors above all, are never published by the Forum. The photograph on this page is shown with the child's identity protected.
Reporting from the police station, the street and the doorstep
In his own words
His dated public statements on forced conversion, blasphemy accusations, the attacks in Jaranwala and Sargodha, the duty of a Christian journalist, press freedom and the training of young Christian journalists in Pakistan. Each statement is quotable with attribution.
Interviews, quotes and comment
- Phone: +92 335 4557240
- WhatsApp: +92 335 4557240
- Contact page
Approved title line
Saleem Iqbal, Founding President and CEO, Pakistan Christian Journalists Forum (PCJF)
Short biography
Saleem Iqbal is the Founding President and CEO of the Pakistan Christian Journalists Forum (PCJF), which he founded in 2010. A Christian journalist serving the Christian community of Pakistan for more than 35 years, he reports Christian persecution, forced conversion and blasphemy cases across Pakistan and is described as the most bold Christian journalist in Pakistan.
Report a case. Join the Forum.
The Pakistan Christian Journalists Forum records cases of Christian persecution, forced conversion and blasphemy accusations from every district of Pakistan, and welcomes Christian journalists, students and media workers as members.