M. J. Akbar is a distinguished writer and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During his long career in journalism, he launched, as editor, India’s first weekly political news magazine, Sunday in 1976, and two daily newspapers, The Telegraph in 1982 and The Asian Age in 1994. He has also been editorial director of India Today and The Sunday Guardian.
He is also the author of several internationally acclaimed books, including India: The Siege Within; Nehru: The Making of India; Kashmir: Behind the Vale; The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity; Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan; Blood Brothers, a novel; Gandhi’s Hinduism: The Struggle Against Jinnah’s Islam; and After Me, Chaos: Astrology in the Mughal Empire.
In addition, there have been four collections of his columns, reportage and essays. In 2004, he was named a member of the committee set up by Saudi
Arabia’s King Abdullah to draft a ten-year charter for Muslim nations at a special conference in Mecca. In March 2006, he joined The Brookings Institution, Washington, as a Visiting Fellow in the Brookings Project on U.S. Policy towards the Islamic world. He also serves as chairman of the trust for the Calcutta Muslim Orphanage.
