[3] Rumi is the son of Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan during the military rule of General Pervez Musharraf.
He has a longtime affiliation with The Friday Times,[8] Pakistan's foremost liberal weekly paper as a writer and an editor for a decade.
[22] In Pakistan, he also worked in the broadcast media as an analyst and hosted talk shows at Capital TV and Express News.
[23] Prior to his foray into journalism and public affairs, Rumi worked at the Asian Development Bank as a governance specialist.
[24] His areas of focus included decentralization, access to justice, institutional development and led projects in several South and Southeast Asian countries.
He served as an Assistant Commissioner in Wazirabad, Murree, Sahiwal and Sargodha subdivisions in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and was a Municipal Administrator and magistrate in multiple jurisdictions.
[28][29][30] On this incident, the former director of Human Rights Watch wrote: "Miraculously, he emerged unscathed from the hail of gunfire intended for him.