Kawish
Kawish newspaper often makes headlines for its bold and aggressive editorial policy to prove its self-titled claim of being the “spokesperson of the Sindhi-speaking people” across the globe, including Pakistan. It has often had to face legal cases and a ban on government advertisements at times for this posture.
Daily Kawish is described as ‘the most popular, hence the most powerful, media house of the Sindhi language’. The newspaper is the flagship newspaper of Kawish Group of Publication which also runs Koshish newspaper and an eveninger Shaam, besides three TV channels of 24/7 news and current affairs, entertainment and music, reportedly sells more copies than the combined circulation of all its competitors in Sindh.
Audience Share
5%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
Sindh Province
Content Type
Paid Content (PKR 25)
Media Companies / Groups
Kawish Group
Ownership Structure
Kawish Publications (Private) Limited operates Kawish newspaper. Three brothers and the son of eldest brother have equal number of shares among them. Muhammad Aslam Kazi owns 25% of shares in the company, whereas Muhammad Athar Kazi (25%), Muhammad Ali Kazi (25%) and Muhammad Ayub Kazi (25%) hold the remaining shares.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1990
Affiliated Interests Founder
in legal documents, Mohammad Akram is the owner of the newspaper as per government’s regulations for print media as the declaration, or license, is issued in his name. He serves the organization as the head of Finance Department. While not illegal, the newspaper is actually owned by the Kazi family but headed by a ‘proxy’ owner. Akram is associated with the group since 1990 and serves the Finance & Admin departments of daily Koshish as well as daily Kawish – both part of the Kawish Group of Publications. His maternal uncle Mushtaq Suhail has also been employed for many years in the group’s head office in Karachi. The Kazi family has deep trust in him.
started his journalistic career at the age of 21 in 1990 when along with his elder brother Aslam, he launched daily Kawish from Hyderabad. In 2002, Kawish group launched its first-ever Sindhi-language satellite channel KTN and Ali took over as its chief executive officer. Ali then launched daily Koshish - the second newspaper of the group - to compete with contemporary rival daily Sindh and daily Tameer-e-Sindh.
Ali’s call for observing December 6 as Sindhi Topi [cap] Day received overwhelming response in 2009. The call was given in response to criticism by notorious TV anchor Dr. Shahid Masood of former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari for wearing the traditional Sindhi cap on foreign visits. The day is now observed annually.
Ali launched a political career in 2012 by establishing the Tabdeeli Pasand Party (Pro-Change Party) promising merit, good governance, equality, justice and transparency. Before that he was sidelined from the family’s media business quitting the editor’s position to save the economic interests of the group as his political ideology was in direct clash with rival Pakistan People’s Party – the dominant political force in Sindh. After he lost the general elections 2018, his brothers withdrew their support from him and he launched ‘Pahenji Akhbar’ – an online newspaper – from Karachi. He remains estranged from his brothers and now considers the Kawish Media Group as his competitor.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
represents the third generation in the Kazi family to join the media business. He is the son of Muhammad Aslam Kazi – the eldest among three brothers (Muhammad Ayoob Kazi and Muhammad Ali Kazi). Athar Kazi is Masters’ degree holder in ‘investment banking’ from the prestigious Institute of Business Administration in Karachi. He started his career from Kawish Group of Publication as Marketing Director. After his father retired, he took over from him becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Kawish Group of Publications manning print publications and TV channels of the whole group. His family belongs to an established Sindhi political family – “the Kazis from Hyderabad”.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
is the brother of the CEO. Before being elevated to the position of editor-in-chief of Kawish newspaper, Ayub Kazi was its managing editor and looked after management issues of the group, including circulation and marketing sections. He joined the journalism profession with the launch of daily Kawish newspaper in 1990.
Affiliated Interests other important people
is former CEO of Kawish Group of Publications. He is the eldest among the three brothers and the founder of the group. He motivated his siblings to launch their own newspaper after their father Muhammad Akbar Kazi married a second time. Before that brothers Akbar Kazi and Abid Kazi, were running the successful Ibrat newspaper. In 2018, Aslam was elected member of Executive Committee of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) – a representative body of print media owners - for 2018-2019 period. Also a master’s degree holder in economics, he has in the past served as editor of daily Sindh News and English daily Sindh Observer. He launched Kawish in 1990 and then KTN TV channel shortly thereafter.
Contact
Post Box No 43 Hyderabad, Sindh
Tel.: 022-2784822, 2780027, 2108307, 2729703
Email: kawish12@gmail.com
Website: www.thekawish.com/beta/
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
USD 3.86 Million / PKR 374 Million (2012-13)
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
USD 0.0008) Million / PKR 0.08 Million (2012-13)
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
An information request was sent to the media outlet on 14 January 2019 through a courier company and by email as well. No response was received from the outlet. The outlet refused to accept the information request MOM Pakistan sent through a private courier company and it was returned. A reminder was sent on 1 February 2019 through a courier company and on 04 February 2019 by email also. Again, there was no response from the newspaper and the outlet also refused to accept reminder from the private courier company and the company returned it to MOM Pakistan team. A right-to-know request was submitted on 12 February 2019 with Sindh Information Department of Sindh provincial government to seek details of advertisement released to the newspaper during 2018. There has been no response from the Sindh Information Commission for 15 days as the law stipulated 15 days to provide data or give reason for non-compliance with the RTI request. After 15 days, a complaint was registered against the Sindh Information Department’s non-sharing of requested data with the Information Commissioner on 5 March 2019 and the commissioner has also not responded till to date. There is little online information about the Kazi family available.
Sources that were interviewed for this research work did not wish to be identified to escape any conflict with the owners of the group. An interview was conducted with Ali Hasan, senior Hyderabad-based journalist, about the newspaper’s editorial policy and family background of the owners. An interview was conducted with an anonymous Hyderabad-based Sindhi journalist, about the group’s history, editorial policy and family background of the owners.
