In the latest controversy to hit Pakistan’s private television industry, a Hindu boy was converted to Islam during one of the many Ramadan-related programmes that are aired live every evening before Iftar.
Sunil, who works with the Ansar Burney Trust, told the cleric who converted him that he was doing so voluntarily. After the conversion, he was rechristened Mohammad Abdullah. However, human rights activist Ansar Burney, who runs the Trust, claimed in a tweet that Sunil told him it was “a painful story of drama”. Mr. Burney has decided to sue the anchorperson, Maya Khan, and the channel.
This is not the first time that a Maya Khan programme has raised a furore. Earlier this year, Ms. Khan — leading a dozen other women — went around a Karachi park intruding upon couples asking them what they were doing, whether their parents knew their whereabouts, why they were not meeting at home if they were engaged and where was their marriage certificate if married.
The public outrage over that programme resulted in her being shown the door — albeit belatedly — by Samaa TV, only to be snapped up by ARY. While the “conversion” show has been criticised — particularly for the kind of message it sends out to the minority communities — the criticism is tempered by the knowledge that many of these anchorpersons thrive on this kind of notoriety.
There are a number of such cases where a controversy has only helped build the profile of anchorpersons, who strut around like gladiators. Last year, Meher Bokhari was widely held responsible for inciting anger against Punjab Governor Salman Taseer who was subsequently assassinated. She had to quit the channel she was working for but was not jobless for long.
Recently, she was at the centre of the controversy over an orchestrated interview with property tycoon Malik Riaz who had levelled charges against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son. She survived the controversy.
Similarly, Amir Liaquat — sent packing by Geo after a video of an off-air conversation went into circulation — was brought back by the channel recently, much to the chagrin of those critical of his programme in which he had once incited hatred against the Ahmadi community. Again, between the two stints with Geo, he was roped in by another channel equally keen to get the eyeballs he attracts.
Commenting on the use of “religion for ratings”, Dawn in its editorial described the conversion show as “another example of how the industry’s commercial goals trump ethics…” and argued that Pakistani media “is missing a responsibility chip, hurtling ahead with what seems like exciting content without stopping to consider the ethical implications…”
