The boy with no reference: Iqrar ul Hassan's long goodbye to ARY News

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 16 April 2026 |  JP Staff Report

Iqrar ul Hassan, long-time host of ARY News' Sar-e-Aam, has resigned after 21 years to join the Awam Raaj Movement. He announced the move in a vlog, framing it as a deliberate choice and reflecting on his rise from modest beginnings.

Summary

ISLAMABAD — The host of Pakistan's popular program, Sar-e-Aam, bids farewell to the channel that shaped him, choosing a political movement over a media career that spanned two decades.

In 2005, a young man from an imam's household, with no connections, no references, and nothing but ambition, walked into an audition in Lahore. Five thousand people had applied. Seventeen were shortlisted. Only two were hired. Iqrar ul Hassan Syed was one of them.

Two decades later, the journalist who would become the face of ARY News's flagship investigative program, Sar-e-Aam, submitted his resignation, not under duress or amid controversy, but by deliberate choice. After 21 years, he chose politics over broadcasting.

In a candid vlog posted on X, Hassan announced his departure with a mixture of gratitude, nostalgia, and quiet resolve. "I had to choose between ARY and Awam Raaj Movement," he said, "so I chose Awam Raaj. A splendid twenty-one-year journey filled with so many memories came to a splendid end."

A journalist forged in the field

Hassan's early years at ARY were anything but glamorous. Selected alongside fellow newscaster Ayesha Baksh, he underwent six months of reporting training in Lahore before being posted to ARY's Dubai headquarters, where he spent four years reading news. When the channel relocated its central operations to Karachi, he followed, continuing on air for another two years before the turning point of his career came in 2012, when Sar-e-Aam first went on air.

But before Sar-e-Aam made him a household name, it was the field that defined him. He was there for the Lal Masjid Operation in 2007, the lawyers' movement that shook the country's legal and political order, Imran Khan's historic Islamabad sit-in, the devastating APS tragedy in Peshawar, and numerous international assignments that took him beyond Pakistan's borders.

"If ARY had not been in my life, all this would not have been possible."

A Career in Milestones

2005 - Selected from 5,000 applicants in Lahore audition, one of just two hired as news casters. Begins six months of reporting training.

2005 – 2009 Posted to ARY's Dubai headquarters as a newscaster for four years.

2009 – 2011 Moves to Karachi as headquarters relocates; continues news reading.

2012 - Sar-e-Aam launches. The investigative show becomes one of Pakistan's most-viewed television programs.

2026- Resigns from ARY News after 21 years to join Awam Raaj Movement.

A reflective farewell and an uncertain future ahead

In his message, Hassan also paid tribute to ARY President Ammad Yousaf, whom he credited with supporting him throughout his journey, as well as senior anchor Waseem Badami and the late Raja Matloob, both of whom had been part of his professional life at the channel.

His departure marks not just a personal milestone but the end of an arrangement that was, by his own account, deeply formative. "I spent 21 of my best years," he said, "and in return ARY gave me love and opportunities." In those years, he witnessed the reshaping of Pakistan's media landscape, the seismic political upheavals that followed one another, and the quiet revolutions within his own life.

What comes next for one of Pakistani television's most recognizable faces remains to be seen. But the decision itself, to trade a chair built over two decades for an uncertain political path, speaks to the conviction he says drove him all along. The son of an imam, with no reference and no shortcut, has always, it seems, chosen his own road.

ATTRIBUTION: Reporting by JournalismPakistan, based on publicly available statements posted by Irar ul Hassan Syed on X.

PHOTO: A screenshot from Iqrarul Hassan Syed's vlog posted on X