Writers from Islamabad

Osman Khalid Butt (Urdu: عثمان خالد بٹ‎) is a Pakistani actor, writer and choreographer. He is best known for his role in Aik Nayee Cinderella aired on Geo TV, and Aunn Zara aired on A-Plus Entertainment, both of which rank among the highest rated Pakistani serial. His other works include Goya, which aired on ARY Digital, and Diyar-e-Dil, the blockbuster serial that was aired on Hum TV in 2015. Butt was also widely praised for his role of Aunn in Aunn Zara (2013), which earned him a nomination for Best Drama Actor at Pakistan Media Awards. He has recently worked in a Haissam Hussain Movie Balu Mahi alongside Ainy Jaffri which was released in 2017.

Ali Saleem (Urdu: علی سلیم), best known by his alter-ego Begum Nawazish Ali, is a Pakistani television host, actor, scriptwriter and impressionist. He became a contestant in Bigg Boss 4 in 2010. He broke into the mainstream audiences through his impersonations of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and later playing the cross-dressing Begum Nawazish Ali on various television channels, including the Aaj TV network, Dawn News and Geo TV network. His alter ego of Begum Nawazish Ali has now become his primary persona as he rarely appears as the male Ali Saleem. He is a bisexual man born to a retired colonel father in Pakistan Army and his wife, a former government official.

Syed Ahmad Shah (Urdu: سید احمد شاہ‎), better known by his pen name Ahmed Faraz, (Urdu: احمد فراز‎ 12 January 1931 – 25 August 2008) was a Pakistani Urdu poet, scriptwriter and chairman of Pakistan Academy of Letters. He wrote his poetry under pseudonym Faraz. During his lifetime, he criticised military rule and coup d'état in the country and was displaced by the military dictators. He was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz. On 25 August 2008, he died in Islamabad, and later Government of Pakistan conferred Hilal-e-Pakistan posthumously upon Faraz for his contribution to poetry and Urdu literature.

Harris Khalique (Urdu: حارث خلیق‎‎; born 20 October 1966) is a Pakistani poet in Urdu and English and a civil society activist. Khalique has authored nine collections of poetry and two books of non-fiction. In March 2018, he received the Presidential Pride of Performance Award from the state of Pakistan as an acknowledgement of his contributions to poetry. In 2013, he was awarded the UBL Literary Excellence Award in the category of Urdu poetry for his collection Melay Mein. He is also a University of Iowa Honorary Fellow in Writing.

Yasir Hussain (Urdu: یاسر حسین‎) is a screenwriter, playwright and host from Islamabad best known for his comic roles. He hosted The After Moon Show on Hum TV. He is also known for playing the antagonist in the 2018 social drama Baandi.

Meher Ali Shah (Urdu: پیر مہر على شاه‬‎‎; 14 April 1859 – May 1937), was a Sufi scholar from British India (present Day Pakistan) belonging to the Chishti order. He is known as a Hanafi scholar leading the anti-Ahmadiyya movement. He wrote several books, most notably Saif e Chishtiyai ("The Sword of the Chishti Order"), a polemical work criticizing the Ahmadiyya movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan (Urdu: ظہیر الدین بابر اعوان‎; born 27 January 1958; ), is a Pakistani politician, lawyer, author, analyst, columnist, and leftist writer who currently serves as Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, in office since April 2020. He has previously served as the Federal Law Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. He also served as a junior Pakistani Senator of Punjab Province from 2012 to 2017.

Hamid Mir (Urdu: حامد مير‎) (born 23 July 1966) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and an author. Born in Lahore to a journalistic family, Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. Later, through the help of several political figures, most importantly PML-N gained popularity. He currently hosts the political talk show Capital Talk on Geo News. He writes columns for Urdu as well as English newspapers, both national and international.

Ayesha Siddiqa (Urdu: عائِشہ صِدّیقہ ‎), (born April 7, 1966), is a Pakistani political scientist, a political commentator and an author who serves as a research associate at the SOAS South Asia Institute. She previously served as the inaugural Pakistan Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center between 2004 and 2005.

Muhammad Asim Butt (Urdu: محمد عاصم بٹ) is an Urdu novelist, short story writer, translator, researcher, editor, critic and journalist. He has published three novels and two collections of short stories along with a number of books translated from English into Urdu and vice versa. Butt also writes in English.