Gharida Farooqi (Urdu: غریدہ فاروقی) is one of Pakistan’s most recognised television anchors and political journalists, with a career spanning more than two decades across nearly every major news network in the country. Known for her direct interviewing style, political commentary, and unflinching coverage of sensitive issues, she has become a household name in Pakistani current affairs television.
In March 2024, the Government of Pakistan awarded her the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz — the country’s Medal of Excellence — in recognition of her contributions to journalism. She currently hosts the prime-time political talk show G for Gharida on GTV News, airing Monday through Thursday from 8:00 to 9:00 PM PST.
This biography covers Gharida Farooqi’s early life, education, full career timeline, major shows, controversies, awards, personal life, and her latest news in 2026.
Gharida Farooqi — Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Gharidah Farooqi (غریدہ فاروقی) |
| Date of Birth | April 1978 |
| Birthplace | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (raised in Pakistan) |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Religion | Islam |
| Education | Master’s degree in Mass Communication / International Relations, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan |
| Profession | Television anchor, journalist, political analyst, executive producer |
| Known For | G for Gharida, political interviews, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz |
| Current Channel | GTV News |
| @GFarooqi | |
| @gfarooqi | |
| Award | Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (2024) |
Who Is Gharida Farooqi?
Gharida Farooqi is a senior Pakistani television journalist, news anchor, and political analyst widely regarded as one of the most experienced female journalists in the country’s broadcast media landscape. Over a career of more than twenty years, she has worked at PTV, ATV, Dunya News, Geo News, Samaa TV, Express News, AAP News, and GTV News — making her one of the few journalists in Pakistan to have anchored at virtually every major news network.
She is best known for hosting G for Gharida, a political talk show that has aired in various forms since around 2015 and remains one of her signature programmes. Her sharp, analytical approach to political interviewing — combined with her willingness to challenge sitting politicians and ministers on air — has earned her both a loyal viewership and significant controversy, particularly from politically motivated online harassment campaigns.
Early Life and Background
Gharida Farooqi was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Pakistani parents who were living abroad at the time. Her family later relocated to Pakistan, where she grew up and completed her education. She has strong ties to Multan, Punjab, where she pursued her higher studies.
From childhood, Farooqi was drawn to current affairs and news media. In interviews, she has described being fascinated by journalism as a vocation — a field that, particularly for women in Pakistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was not an obvious or socially straightforward career path to pursue. She has spoken publicly about her Kashmiri heritage, describing it as a significant part of her identity. Her Twitter biography reads: “Heart — Pakistan. Soul — Kashmir.”
Education
Gharida Farooqi holds a postgraduate degree from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan. Sources vary on whether her master’s was in Mass Communication or International Relations — she has been listed with both in different official profiles, and it is possible she completed coursework in both fields across different institutions. She is among the relatively small cohort of Pakistani broadcast journalists of her generation who entered the field with formal academic training in journalism or international affairs rather than transitioning from entertainment or general arts degrees.
Her educational background in international relations has directly shaped her specialty: political coverage, foreign policy analysis, and governance accountability — the subjects that define her on-screen work.
Career Timeline
2004–2007 — ISPR and PTV
Before entering broadcast journalism full-time, Gharida Farooqi worked as a media analyst with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) from approximately 2004, handling communications and media engagement for the military’s public relations arm. This gave her early exposure to the relationship between Pakistan’s state institutions and the media ecosystem — experience that would inform her later political reporting.
She transitioned to Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) News around 2005, working as a newscaster and anchor for news bulletins. She remained at PTV until 2007, building the foundational broadcast skills — camera presence, news reading, live anchoring — that she would carry through her subsequent career.
2007–2008 — ATV and Dunya News
After leaving PTV, Farooqi moved briefly through ATV Pakistan and Dunya News, where she worked in anchoring roles. This period appears to have been transitional, with Farooqi rapidly building her profile as she moved toward the larger national networks.
2008–2012 — Geo News
Gharida Farooqi joined Geo News in 2008, working at what was then and remains Pakistan’s largest and most influential private news network. Her time at Geo was formative — it was here that she established herself as a credible political analyst and current affairs anchor rather than simply a news reader. She worked at Geo until 2012, hosting programmes focused on political debate and governance coverage.
2012–2017 — Samaa TV and Rise to National Prominence
Following her departure from Geo, Farooqi joined Samaa TV, where she continued developing her signature interview-based format. It was during this period, around 2015, that G for Gharida launched as a standalone show — an interview and discussion programme focused on political leaders, policy issues, and national affairs. In September 2015, her on-air interview with Rana Sanaullah Khan, then Law Minister of Punjab, drew significant public attention and established the show as a serious political platform.
2017–2019 — Express News (Senior Anchor)
By 2017, Gharida Farooqi had risen to Senior Anchor Person at Express News, one of Pakistan’s leading private news channels. In addition to her on-air role she took on executive production responsibilities, overseeing programme content and output. Her move from Samaa to Express was reportedly motivated in part by better compensation — a transition that was openly reported in Pakistani media at the time.
2019 Onwards — AAP News and GTV News
From October 2019, Farooqi moved into a Senior Anchor and Executive Producer role at AAP Media Network (AAP News). She subsequently joined GTV News, where she currently hosts G for Gharida in its prime-time weekday slot (Monday to Thursday, 8:00–9:00 PM PST). The show features debates, one-on-one political interviews, and analytical segments covering Pakistan’s national affairs.
As of April 2026, Gharida Farooqi remains active on GTV News and continues to be one of the most-followed Pakistani journalists on social media, with a significant presence on both Twitter/X (@GFarooqi) and Instagram (@gfarooqi).
G for Gharida — Her Signature Show
G for Gharida is the programme most closely associated with Gharida Farooqi’s public identity. The show has aired on multiple channels across its history — including Samaa TV, Express News, Aaj News, and now GTV News — and has featured interviews with virtually every significant figure in Pakistani politics over the past decade.
Notable guests and interviews across the show’s run have included Rana Sanaullah Khan, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, and various senior ministers and political leaders. The show’s format combines solo anchoring, panel debates, and direct political interviews — a versatile structure that has allowed it to adapt across different channels and political cycles.
The show’s title is deliberately personal — “G for Gharida” positions the anchor herself as the brand, a positioning that has proven effective in retaining an audience that follows her specifically rather than the channel she happens to be on at any given time.
Awards and Recognition
Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (2024) — On Pakistan Day, 23 March 2024, Gharida Farooqi was among approximately 118 citizens awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence), Pakistan’s fourth-highest civilian honour. She was one of a small number of journalists recognised in that year’s cohort, which also included Amjad Aziz Malik, Shama Junejo, Fahad Hussain, and Juggan Kazim. The award recognised her contributions to Pakistani journalism over more than two decades.
Farooqi prominently displays the T.I. designation (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) in her Twitter/X biography, describing herself as: “Steel Magnolia | Feminist | Activist | Journalist | Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Holder.”
Beyond formal awards, she has been cited by international press freedom organisations including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) as a prominent example of the challenges facing female journalists in Pakistan — recognition of a different, harder-won kind.
Controversies
Online Harassment Campaigns (2016–Present)
The most sustained controversy of Gharida Farooqi’s career is not one of her making. Since at least 2016, she has been the target of organised online harassment campaigns, primarily from supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. These campaigns have included coordinated trolling, the spread of deliberate misinformation, gendered abuse including threats of rape and murder, and the doxxing of her personal details.
Farooqi has filed approximately eight separate complaints with Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in response to these threats. In October 2022, she publicly condemned remarks made by Ali Amin Gandapur that she and many observers characterised as amounting to threats against her. The incident drew widespread condemnation from journalists’ organisations across Pakistan.
In 2024, the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ), a New York-based non-profit, published a detailed timeline documenting harassment campaigns against Farooqi spanning 2016 to 2024, highlighting her case as emblematic of how female journalists in Pakistan become targets during politically charged periods.
Domestic Worker Case (2017)
In July 2017, Lahore police recovered a fifteen-year-old domestic worker from Gharida Farooqi’s residence after allegations of illegal detention and mistreatment were raised. The case drew significant media coverage at the time. On 23 August 2017, Farooqi reached an out-of-court settlement with the worker’s mother, Nasima, involving a payment of PKR 45,000. The worker’s mother subsequently stated she was not pursuing the case further. Farooqi was never charged or convicted in a court of law in Pakistan in connection with the incident. The case nonetheless drew broader public attention to the issue of domestic worker rights in Pakistan.
April 2026 — Attire at Iran–US Talks Coverage
In April 2026, while covering the Iran–US diplomatic talks held in Islamabad, Farooqi became the subject of viral social media discussion over her choice of outfit — a green co-ordinated set. The trolling, which compared her appearance unfavourably to that of a veiled Iranian journalist present at the event, drew immediate pushback from supporters who criticised the focus on a journalist’s clothing rather than her professional work. The episode was described by several commentators as another instance of the gendered scrutiny routinely directed at female journalists in Pakistani media. Farooqi has not publicly responded to the specific remarks.
Personal Life
Gharida Farooqi keeps her personal life largely private. Unverified claims circulating on several low-credibility websites suggest she is or was married to Shahbaz Sharif, former Prime Minister and PML-N leader. Neither Farooqi nor Sharif has ever confirmed this claim, and no credible Pakistani news source has reported it as established fact. It should be treated as an unverified rumour.
What is known: she has described herself publicly as a feminist and activist, and her work has consistently reflected a commitment to issues affecting women in Pakistan — from her coverage of gender-based violence to her own public pushback against the harassment she has personally experienced.
She identifies strongly with her Kashmiri heritage and has spoken and written about the Kashmir issue with evident personal feeling.
Gharida Farooqi in 2026
As of April 2026, Gharida Farooqi is active and prominent in Pakistani media. She continues to host G for Gharida on GTV News (Monday–Thursday, 8–9 PM PST) and maintains an engaged following on Twitter/X and Instagram. The Iran–US Islamabad talks in April 2026 placed her in the national spotlight once again — both for her journalistic coverage of a significant diplomatic event and for the unwanted attention her appearance attracted.
With the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz behind her and more than two decades of continuous broadcast journalism, she stands as one of the most durable figures in Pakistani political media — a journalist whose career has outlasted multiple governments, channel affiliations, and sustained harassment campaigns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Gharida Farooqi?
Gharida Farooqi is a Pakistani television anchor, journalist, and political analyst with over 20 years of experience. She has worked at PTV, Geo News, Samaa TV, Express News, and GTV News, and is best known for hosting the political talk show G for Gharida.
How old is Gharida Farooqi?
Gharida Farooqi was born in April 1978, making her 47 years old as of 2026.
What is G for Gharida?
G for Gharida is Gharida Farooqi’s signature political talk show, currently airing on GTV News from Monday to Thursday at 8:00 PM PST. The show features political interviews, debates, and current affairs analysis.
What award did Gharida Farooqi receive?
On Pakistan Day, 23 March 2024, Gharida Farooqi was awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the Government of Pakistan in recognition of her contributions to journalism.
Where did Gharida Farooqi study?
She holds a master’s degree from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, Pakistan, in the fields of Mass Communication and/or International Relations.
Is Gharida Farooqi married to Shahbaz Sharif?
This claim circulates online but has never been confirmed by Gharida Farooqi, Shahbaz Sharif, or any credible news source. It remains unverified.
Why was Gharida Farooqi in the news in April 2026?
She was covering the Iran–US diplomatic talks in Islamabad when she became the subject of social media trolling over her choice of outfit. The episode drew wide condemnation of the gendered scrutiny directed at female journalists.
What channels has Gharida Farooqi worked for?
Over her career she has worked at PTV, ATV, Dunya News, Geo News, Samaa TV, Express News, AAP News, and GTV News.
