By Moin Ullah Shah
KARACHI: In a historic first, the Green Panel has nominated a woman as its presidential candidate for the Karachi Press Club elections. On Wednesday, at the club’s terrace, Green Panel group head Syed Hasan Abbas announced the nomination of senior journalist Shehr Bano from the English daily The News (Jang Group) for president, alongside Saeed Jan Baloch from Daily Aman as vice president for the 2026 elections.
The panel also announced nominations for the governing body, including Ajaz Jamali (24 News), Akbar Ali (365 News), Mahmood Riaz (freelance), and Syed Muhammad Hamza Khalid. The announcement was attended by senior journalists including Maqbool Khan and Rafiq Baloch, as well as office-bearers of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), along with numerous Green Panel members.
This nomination follows the Green Panel’s previous milestone of helping elect KUJ’s first female general secretary, Lubna Jarar Naqvi. During the event, Green Panel group head Syed Hasan Abbas, along with PFUJ former president G.M. Jamali, current vice presidents Ghulam Akbar Jafri and Ghazala Fasih, assistant secretary general Rafiq Hussain Farooqi, and other members of the Federal Executive Council, KUJ leadership, and representatives from the Pakistan Association of Press Photographers (PAPP) and Sindh Sports Journalists Association (SSJAS) appealed to Karachi Press Club members to support the Green Panel candidates in large numbers, urging journalists to vote in the broader interest of the profession.
