Pakistani television is screening what many call its most
controversial content yet in a ruthless quest for ratings: a talk-show host who
gives away babies live on air.
Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a bespectacled 41-year-old with a
neatly trimmed beard, gave away two abandoned infant girls to childless
families last month and plans to give away a baby boy this week.
"If we didn't find this baby, a cat or a dog would have
eaten it," Hussain proclaimed during one broadcast, before presenting a tiny
girl wrapped in pink and red to her new parents. The audience erupted with
applause.
Hussain is one of
Pakistan's most popular talk-show hosts.
During his marathon broadcasts he cooks, interviews clerics and celebrities,
entertains children and hosts game shows.
He usually gives prizes like motorbikes, mobile phones and
land deeds to audience members who answer questions about Islam.
But at the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan,
when television stations battle fiercely for ratings, Hussain astonished
Pakistan when he presented two families with babies.
"We were told that we had passed all the interviews and
had been selected to adopt a baby," said Riaz Uddin, 40, an engineer.
"We got our baby on live TV."
(Reuters)
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