Raza Dotani

Raza grew up in Wana during a period of real instability. He taught science at New Iqra Public School across multiple grade levels, in a school with limited resources and no shortage of security volatility outside the classroom. That environment teaches you two things fast. First: plans fail, so build for the failure case, not the ideal one. Second: the people in front of you matter more than the institution behind you.

Seven years as broadcaster, host, and producer. 500+ programs, 100–150 on-air interviews covering current affairs, governance, human rights, culture. Live radio doesn't give you a second take. It teaches discipline, presence, and how to hold a thread when everything around you is moving.

Operation Zarb-e-Azb displaced more than 800,000 civilians into Bannu. Raza covered that displacement as a civilian journalist, focused on families and children rather than the military campaign. He was mid-way through an MSc at NUML. When final exams landed in the same window as the Bannu deployment, he chose the field. The degree was never awarded. The reporting fed into his selection for the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program in 2015.

Founded Tribal Post in 2013, an independent outlet covering the Pak-Afghan border and former FATA. Built a team of 5 reporters, 2 sub-editors, 10+ field contributors, trained 30+ young journalists from tribal communities, won Internews Small Media Grant in 2017. Closed in 2019; relaunch planned. In 2020 founded Aware Pakistan, a non-commercial publishing platform run since with no advertising spend. Governance first: style guide, ethics policy, contributor agreements, quality standards.

Four years as Digital Platforms Manager at Tribal News Network, running bilingual operations and training a 5-person web editing team. Three years as Digital Communications Manager at Glowmax International, including provincial government campaigns. In December 2021 founded The Dotani Digital, a solo consultancy. A website a client can't run without him is unfinished.