Mohsin Naqvi likely to be appointed interior minister

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is expected to get a key role in the cabinet of newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Lahore: Mohsin Naqvi likely to be appointed interior minister. Sources said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have decided to field Naqvi as joint candidate from Punjab for the Senate elections.

Naqvi, who had also served as caretaker Punjab chief minister, would contest the Senate polls as an independent candidate and he will be supported by the ruling alliance. He is expected to be given the portfolio of the interior minister in the federal cabinet.

Last month, Naqvi was elected unopposed as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman for three years after his rival Mustafa Ramday decided to step down from the competition.

Outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar nominated him for its Board of Governors.

Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi  is a current Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board & Pakistani media mogul who is the owner of City Media Group. He served as the caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab from January 2023 to February 2024.

Caretaker Prime Minister and PCB Patron-in-Chief Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar designated Naqvi as a member of the governing board on 22 January 2024, amid reports that the latter would eventually be elected as PCB chairman. He assumed the charge of Chairman PCB on 6th February 2024.

Early life and Media career

Naqvi was born on 28 October 1978, in the city of Lahore, in the Punjab province and did his primary education at Crescent Model School in Lahore.

He graduated from Government College University (GCU) Lahore and moved to the United States for further studies in media sciences.

He reportedly stayed in the coastal metropolis city of Miami, joined the multinational cable news CNN as a producer, and became the youngest Regional Head of South Asia after returning to Pakistan.

He later founded City Media Group in 2009 with C42 as its first television channel which was later re-branded as City 42. Currently he is running six TV Channels and one newspaper; including 24 News Channel, Rohi Channel for Saraiki Belt and a popular channel of Faisalabad city C41. He has also started Channel 21 from Karachi. His Urdu News Channel C44 is also working in the UK.

Chief Minister of Punjab

Naqvi was one of the two nominees suggested by Hamza Shehbaz, Leader of the Opposition Punjab Assembly for the caretaker chief ministership of the province. The appointment of Naqvi as caretaker CM was later made by Election Commission of Pakistan during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner, Sikander Sultan Raja after an unusual delay and constant deadlock between the previous provincial government and the opposition over the nominees after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.