Murtaza Solangi: Biography, Born, Education, Career and Role in 2026

Who is Murtaza Solangi?

Here is the main point. Murtaza Solangi has spent his working life on both sides of the microphone. He has been the journalist asking the questions, and he has been the official answering them. Not many people in Pakistan have moved between those two jobs as often as he has.

He started as a reporter and broadcaster. He rose to run the state radio network. He went back to private television as a talk-show host. Then he was picked to be the government’s voice during one of the most disputed elections in the country’s history. Today he speaks for the President.

That journey raises a question worth thinking about. Can a person be an independent journalist one year and a government spokesman the next? He would say he has been honest about which hat he was wearing each time. His critics say the hats have been too easy to swap.

Murtaza Solangi’s career is a map of the narrow space between the newsroom and the corridors of power in Pakistan.

Where and when was Murtaza Solangi born?

People search for this more than anything else about him. So let’s be straight about what is known and what is not.

• His public biography gives his year of birth as 1966. That would make him about 60 in 2026.
• The same biography gives his birthplace as Islamabad.
• A profile website says his family lives in Islamabad but comes from Nawabshah, in Sindh. That fits his surname. The Solangis are a Sindhi community.

None of this comes from an official document or from a detailed newspaper profile. He has not held elected office, so there is no assembly or election record to check. Until a better source turns up, treat the year and the place as reported, not confirmed.

Education

His public biography names Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad as his university. One profile says he holds a master’s degree from there.

Quaid-i-Azam University is the country’s best-known public university for graduate study. It draws students from every province, and it has long had a lively culture of political debate. Many of Pakistan’s journalists, diplomats and civil servants studied there.

Early career and Voice of America

He describes himself as a journalist of four decades, which puts the start of his career in the 1980s. By his own account he has also worked in theatre, music and media management.

The first job that is clearly on the record is with the Voice of America. He worked as a broadcaster for its Urdu service. One profile dates this to the years 2001 to 2008.

What is Voice of America?

Voice of America, or VOA, is an international radio and television service paid for by the United States government. It broadcasts news in dozens of languages to audiences outside America. Its Urdu service is aimed at listeners in Pakistan. Staff work mostly from Washington.

Those were busy years for anyone covering Pakistan from abroad: the war in Afghanistan, General Musharraf’s rule, the lawyers’ movement and the return and assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Director General of Radio Pakistan, 2008 to 2013

In 2008 a new elected government led by the Pakistan Peoples Party took office. It brought him home to run Radio Pakistan. He stayed for five years, the full life of that government.

What is Radio Pakistan?

Its formal name is the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. It is the state radio network, the service that announced the country’s independence in August 1947. It broadcasts in Urdu, English and many regional languages, and it reaches villages and border areas that television and the internet still miss.

According to Dawn, during his time he was in charge of:

• 64 broadcasting units across the country.
• A workforce of more than 3,000 people.
• New partnerships with foreign broadcasters, including Voice of America, China Radio International and Germany’s Deutsche Welle.

He also made a mark abroad. He was the first Pakistani to be elected vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, and later served as its acting president. The union is an association of radio and television organisations from across Asia and the Pacific. It helps its members share programmes, training and technical standards.

In 2011 the President of Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his work in public broadcasting. It is one of the country’s senior civil awards.

Back to private television

When the PPP government’s term ended in 2013, he left Radio Pakistan and returned to journalism.

He became a talk-show host on private channels and a regular commentator. He was known for a liberal, pro-democracy line and for sharp criticism of military involvement in politics.

One episode from these years is well documented.

• In 2018 he was hosting a current-affairs programme on Capital TV. According to a report by Radio Free Europe, one evening his show was taken off air in the middle of the broadcast.
• He had an argument with the channel’s management and resigned. He said he suspected the channel had been pressured to stop the programme.
• In October 2018 he announced that he had ended his association with the channel.
• In February 2019 he went to court to recover pay that he said the channel owed him.

After that he worked with other outlets. Just before he joined the government in 2023, he was director of public affairs at Suno News.

Caretaker Information Minister, 2023 to 2024

In August 2023 the National Assembly completed its term and was dissolved. A caretaker government took over under Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar. Murtaza Solangi was named caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He took the oath on 17 August 2023. He replaced Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister in the outgoing elected government. He was later given temporary charge of parliamentary affairs as well.

On his first day he made a remark that sums up the change. He wrote that the new role had legal and constitutional responsibilities, and that these were different from the role of an independent journalist.

What is a caretaker government?

When an assembly is dissolved, the Constitution says a neutral, temporary government must run the country until the election. Its job is to keep things going and help the Election Commission hold the vote. The law says a caretaker government must:

1. Attend to day-to-day matters only.
2. Assist the Election Commission in holding the election.
3. Stay impartial towards every party and candidate.
4. Avoid major policy decisions, big appointments and anything a future elected government could not undo.

A longer stay than planned

A caretaker government is supposed to last about three months. This one lasted more than six. The election was delayed because constituencies had to be redrawn after a new census. It was finally held on 8 February 2024.

As information minister he was the face of the government throughout.

• He repeatedly said the election would be held and that the caretakers had no wish to stay on.
• On polling day, mobile phone services were suspended across the country. The government said this was for security. Opposition parties and observers said it made it harder to check results.
• A few days later, access to the social media platform X was restricted in Pakistan.
• The PTI rejected the election result and accused the caretaker set-up of taking sides. He and his colleagues denied this and said they had done what the Constitution asked.

He left office on 4 March 2024, when the new elected government was sworn in.

Spokesperson of the President, since 2025

In August 2025 he took on a new public role. Dawn reported on 20 August 2025 that he had been appointed Spokesperson of the President of Pakistan.

Three details from the notification are worth noting.

• It was issued by the President’s secretary.
• The appointment is on an “honorary/pro bono basis”. In plain words, he is not paid.
• It took effect at once and runs “until further orders”.

What does a presidential spokesperson do? He issues statements in the President’s name, answers the media’s questions about the President’s views and engagements, and corrects reports the presidency believes are wrong. Since the President’s own powers are mostly ceremonial today, the job is largely about messages: condolences, greetings, positions on national events.

Reports from the state news agency in 2026 still describe him in this role. We found no report of him leaving it.

The appointment also closes a circle. He first rose to a senior public post under a PPP government in 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari became President for the first time. He now speaks for the same man in his second term.

Who speaks for whom in Islamabad?

News reports quote many “spokespersons”. It helps to know which office each one represents.

He has held the first two of these jobs. They are quite different. An information minister defends a whole government every day. A presidential spokesperson speaks for one office that stays above daily politics, at least in theory.

Pakistan’s civil awards, in order

His 2011 honour is easier to place if you know the ladder. Each family of civil awards has four ranks. In the “Imtiaz” family, which means distinction, they are:

1. Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest.
2. Hilal-e-Imtiaz.
3. Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the one he holds.
4. Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.

The awards are announced on Independence Day and conferred by the President on Pakistan Day, 23 March.

Journalist or spokesman: the two hats

His career makes a useful case study in a debate that goes on in every country.

There is nothing wrong with either job. Trouble starts only when the audience cannot tell which one a person is doing. He has generally been open about it. When he took the caretaker post he said plainly that he was no longer speaking as a journalist.

What supporters and critics say

Supporters see a professional broadcaster with long experience who has stood up for democracy and for journalists’ freedom. They remember the night his show was cut off, and they point to the international recognition Radio Pakistan gained under him.

Critics come from two directions. PTI supporters hold him responsible for defending the 2024 election and the restrictions around it. Some fellow journalists say that a man who campaigned for press freedom should not have been the spokesman for a government that switched off phone networks, nor moved so easily between newsrooms and official posts linked to one party.

Both views are part of his public record. A reader can respect the experience and still ask the hard questions.

Timeline: Murtaza Solangi at a glance

Why his story matters

• It shows how close media and power are in Pakistan. Editors become advisers. Anchors become ministers. Then some go back.
• It explains the caretaker system. His six months in office are a good way to understand what a neutral government is meant to do, and why its neutrality is always questioned.
• It reminds us that radio still matters. In a country where millions have no reliable internet, the state radio network remains a powerful tool.
• It teaches a simple habit for news readers. Before you weigh what someone says, check what job that person holds today. The same voice can be a reporter in one decade and an official in the next, and the words mean something different each time.

If you want the full rules on interim governments, read our explainer on the caretaker government in Pakistan.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Dawn, “Murtaza Solangi appointed spokesperson for President Zardari” — 20 August 2025; appointment, Radio Pakistan years, broadcasting union posts and award.
• JournalismPakistan, “From media to ministry: Murtaza Solangi’s new chapter begins” — 18 August 2023.
• Wikipedia, “Murtaza Solangi” — short biography as last edited on 4 October 2026; source of the birth year and place, which are unconfirmed.
• JournalismPakistan, “Murtaza Solangi bids goodbye to Capital TV” — October 2018.
• JournalismPakistan, “Murtaza Solangi sues Capital TV” — February 2019.
• Associated Press of Pakistan, items tagged “Murtaza Solangi” — statements as the President’s spokesperson, 2025 and 2026.
• Murtaza Solangi’s Substack — his own description of his career.
• Elections Act 2017, Election Commission of Pakistan — section 230 on the functions of a caretaker government.
• Constitution of Pakistan, as amended up to the Twenty-seventh Amendment — Article 224 on caretaker cabinets.