Draft:Ali Jan (writer)

Dr. Ali Jan is a travel writer, historian, cultural activist and conservationist based in Peshawar. He contributes to national and international publications. He mainly writes about the history, culture, and heritage of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Biography
Dr. Ali Jan was born in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in 1974. He is a travel writer and photographer and has edited the International Insight Travel Guide to Pakistan. . He has also been highlighting issues pertaining to the environment and heritage of the province. He is also an archivist of records, photos ad documents belonging to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. He is a medical graduate of the Aga Khan University.

He served as a consultant to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the ministry of Tourism, Sports, Culture, Youth Affairs, Archaeology & Museums from 2008 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2016. Dr. Ali Jan is currently Chairman of the Maureen Lines Foundation.. (established to carry on the mission of legendary social worker, cultural activist, author and environmentalist late Maureen Lines) & Honourary Vice President of Hindu Kush Conservation Association UK mandated to preserve the culture and environment of the Kalash Valleys and is CEO of the Creative Co. (Pvt.) Ltd.

Working for Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

 * Joined Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) as Consultant, Marketing and Publicity in 2007-2011.
 * Rejoined Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Sports, Museums & Archaeology and Youth Affairs as Advisor 2014-2016.
 * Remained part of all major events and organised first Provincial Round Table on Culture, and edited the KP Tourism Policy 2015 and KP Youth Policy 2015

Media Columnist
Free Lance Columnist The News, DAWN , Express Tribune , etc. (with over 100 published articles, features, reviews and reports covering History, Environment, Culture and Tourism etc.)

Travel Writer

 * Revised/Edited ‘Insight Travel Guide to Pakistan (NWFP section).
 * Edited Travel Guides on Peshawar, Gandhara, Swat, Chitral, Kalash etc. for TCKP.
 * Editor, ‘Frontier Facets’ / Via Khyber (TCKP, quarterly newsletter magazine 2008-2016)

Social Activism

 * Founding Member, Sarhad Conservation Network (SCN)
 * Formerly with Frontier Heritage Trust (FHT) & Kalash Environmental Protection Society (KEPS)
 * Co-founder of QissaKhwani, a social media platform.

Interests

 * Photography
 * Military History
 * Steam Railways Heritage
 * Archiving burial records of British cemeteries in Pakistan
 * Family, history, research and genealogy
 * Collecting old images
 * Heritage Activism

Awards
He is one of the recipients of Fakhr e Peshawar (Pride of Peshawar award) conferred by City & District Government of Peshawar in 2019.

Articles
He wrote over 100 articles, features, reviews and reports covering History, Environment, Culture and Tourism etc. in different leading newspapers in Pakistan. He has also written about the History of Peshawar He is often quoted in articles as a heritage expert and historian.

Current positions

 * Member Prime Minister’s National Tourism Coordination Board working group on Cultural Heritage and Archaeology
 * Member President’s Federal Steering Committee Artists Welfare Fund
 * Member Board of Governors Lok Virsa National Institute of Folk Heritage