Amar Guriro (In Urdu امر گرڑو )

Amar Guriro is a print media journalist and a professional fixer based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. He is attached with a Lahore-based English paper, Pakistan Today in its Karachi office as staff reporter since September 2010.

Guriro is basically an environmental journalist but he also covers politics, health, religious minorities, heritage, weather related issues, wildlife and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues. He is also a media fellow of WaterAid media fellowship programme 2009-12.

He visited Nepal (three times), Bangladesh (twice), India (twice), Dubai, Sri Lanka, Qatar and United States of America (USA) to attend different journalistic training workshops, fellowships and to cover international conferences.

In 2011, Guriro was selected for the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program and visited five states and nine cities of USA for twenty-two days. The topic of his IVLP fellowship 2011 was the “The New Faces of American Journalism and Activism: Blogging and Social Media”.

Guriro has contributed reports, feature stories, investigative reports and analysis for different local, national and international publications including BBC (Urdu), The Times (English), Dainik Jagran, India (Hindi), The Himal SouthAsian, Nepal (English) and also for Pakistani local and national newspapers including Daily Times (English), Pakistan Today (English), Weekly Kolachi section of the News on Sunday (TNS) in English, Regional Times (English), Dawn.com (English), Daily Kawish (Sindhi), Tameer-e-Sindh (Sindhi), daily Sindh (Sindhi), Monthly Faroozan Magazine (Urdu), Fortnightly Affair Mag (Sindhi), Dastak (Urdu). He has also reported radios reports and many of his stories were broadcasted on FM 107.

He is also regional coordinator WashMedia-South Asia, a forum of journalists from across South Asian countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, working on issues related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). He is also editor of the forum’s website. www.washmediaSA.wordpress.com

Though, Guriro is basically an environmental journalist, but his feature stories on Pakistani politics and political history worth reading.

Some of his feature stories on political issue, which published in different publication including BBC, can be read here

BBC-Urdu

Amar Guriro as a Fixer, interpreter, guide 

Amar Guriro has also worked as fixer, interpreter and guide for several famous foreign journalists including Steve Inskeep—author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, Julie McCarthy of NPR, Nicholas Schmidle who was deported by Pervez Musharraf government, Griff Witte—the Deputy Foreign Editor of The Washington Post, Declan Walsh of New York Times and many others.

Amar has worked with several big names of journalism and few are mentioned here.

Steve Inskeep
The host of National Public Radio (NPR)’s Morning Edition

Guriro worked with Inskeep as media fixer, interpreter and fixed several appointments for his Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi.

Julie McCarthy
National Public Radio (NPR) USA
Pakistan Bureau Chief

Guriro worked with Julie McCarthy as fixer, interpreter and guide when she was covering Super Floods or Pakistan Floods 2010. Guriro worked with her for several days and visited Sukkur, Shahdadpur, Dadu, (Kotri Bridge on River Indus) Jamshoro, Thatta and other parts of Sindh who badly affected with floods.

McCarthy wrote in her note for Guriro, “Amar Guriro is in very good – very smart and thoughtful guy, good journalist.  He’s a go-getter, got me thru the floods in Sindh.  He was a joy to work with.   Heartily and happily recommend that you try to connect with him.  You won’t be disappointed – quite the contrary.”

Nicholas Schmidle
American journalist

Guriro worked as fixer and interpreter with Schmidle when he was covering the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Followed by Bhutto’s assassination, her home province Sindh witnessed history’s worst ever violence. Just on the third day of Bhutto’s assassination, Guriro took him to Lyari town, Karachi where angry Jiyalas (hardcore activists of Bhutto’s PPP) were mourning her assassination. Just with in few days of his visit, Schmidle was deported from Pakistan by former dictator Pervez Musharraf regime for his article “Next Gen Taliban” that appeared in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

Griff Witte
Washington Post

Amar Guriro worked with Griff Witte, the Deputy Foreign Editor of The Washington Post, in October 2008 in Karachi when Witte was covering assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Griff Whitte was working at that time as the bureau chief in Kabul, Islamabad and Jerusalem for The Washington Post.

Frederic Bobin
French newspaper Le Monde
Bureau Chief for South Asia

Guriro worked several times with Bobin as fixer, interpreter in Karachi. Bobin visited many times Karachi and worked on burning on containers belong to NATO forces in Afghanistan and other stories.

Kim Barker 
Chicago Tribune
Foreign correspondent for South Asia

Guriro worked with Barker as fixer in early 2008 when she was covering the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Guriro traveled with Barker to Sukkur, Larkana and Ghari Khuda Bukhsh where Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest.

Sam Mednick
Contributor
www.devex.com Barcelona, Spain

Guriro worked as fixer and interpreter when she was covering Sindh Monsoon Floods 2011 for www.devex.com

He took her to flood hit areas of Badin and Thatta districts.

Balazs Gardi
Hungarian Photojournalist

Amar Guriro worked with award winner Hungarian freelance photo journalist Gardi in Karachi when he got an assignment from WaterAid-UK to cover the South Asian slums. Guriro helped him to get into the one of South Asia’s biggest slums—the Machhar Colony in Karachi. http://vimeo.com/33371061

Declan Walsh
New York Times
Bureau Chief Pakistan

Guriro worked with Walsh when he was covering issue of conversion of a Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari who became Muslim and married a young Muslim man. The issue forced Hindus and some of the Muslim extremists to stand against each other, who live peacefully, otherwise. Guriro visited Sukkur, Ghotki, Bharchundi Shrine in Mirpur Mathelo town of Ghotki where the conversion was held.

Guriro’s stories, features and investigative reports can be found here and also at his personal website www.amarguriro.com

He can be contacted at amarguriro@amarguriro.com