'Gift from God' or ratings ploy? Abandoned babies are handed out live on Pakistani TV
- 11 years ago
Ramzan Chhipa, who runs one of this teeming and often-violent coastal city's biggest emergency response organizations, said the plight of the garbage babies is something that still touches the most hardened of his workers.
Chhipa has struggled in vain to draw attention to the issue, to raise awareness, to persuade desperate and impoverished parents not to abandon their unwanted babies amid the trash.
"We find eight to ten bodies a month in the garbage, mostly girls," said Chhipa, who runs the Chhipa Welfare Association. "This is the reason we are going on the show, to give the awareness, to give the information to the public."
Just a day later, Chhipa carried a small bundle along a narrow path between rows of gravestones before kneeling and lowering it into a shallow hole. Under an instense afternoon sun, the hole was filled with dirt and sealed. Chhipa sprinkled rose petals and said a brief prayer before leaving the grave - unnamed and unmarked.
Geo TV via AFP - Getty Images
Aamir Liaqat Hussain holds abandoned child named Aman Ali before handing him over to a childless couple on August 2.
The body in a white cloth had been that of a newborn baby girl - perhaps two days old. She'd been found only hours earlier, dumped on a garbage heap.
Amid that grim and desperate side of life, controversy over the baby giveaways has left Chhipa a little bewildered. He said his organization also provided the parents, after careful vetting. "We have a strict check and balance system," Chhipa added. "We have applications from thousands of couples who do not have babies."
Hussain's show veers from discussions with Islamic scholars to a tacky quiz, during which he bounds around the ornate studio, up and down stairs, asking questions and giving away motorcycles, washing machines, cars, cell phones and his own brand clothing.
By mid-evening - prime-time - the audience has been whipped up into a frenzy.
At one point Hussain approached a policeman in the audience, still in his uniform, asking him three questions about Islam. The bewildered policeman didn't have a clue. "So, tell where the main jail is in Karachi?" He knew that answer and won a cell phone. The audience erupted with laughter.
"This is the real Islam," Hussain says of his show. "It's a celebration. Light talk, serious talk, game show, children's party, cooking. It’s a celebration."
The first couple who'd received a prime-time baby, Riaz-Ud-Din and Tanzeem Riaz, confirmed that they had been through a series of interviews and knew they would be receiving the baby on live television.
Chhipa has struggled in vain to draw attention to the issue, to raise awareness, to persuade desperate and impoverished parents not to abandon their unwanted babies amid the trash.
"We find eight to ten bodies a month in the garbage, mostly girls," said Chhipa, who runs the Chhipa Welfare Association. "This is the reason we are going on the show, to give the awareness, to give the information to the public."
Just a day later, Chhipa carried a small bundle along a narrow path between rows of gravestones before kneeling and lowering it into a shallow hole. Under an instense afternoon sun, the hole was filled with dirt and sealed. Chhipa sprinkled rose petals and said a brief prayer before leaving the grave - unnamed and unmarked.
Geo TV via AFP - Getty Images
Aamir Liaqat Hussain holds abandoned child named Aman Ali before handing him over to a childless couple on August 2.
The body in a white cloth had been that of a newborn baby girl - perhaps two days old. She'd been found only hours earlier, dumped on a garbage heap.
Amid that grim and desperate side of life, controversy over the baby giveaways has left Chhipa a little bewildered. He said his organization also provided the parents, after careful vetting. "We have a strict check and balance system," Chhipa added. "We have applications from thousands of couples who do not have babies."
Hussain's show veers from discussions with Islamic scholars to a tacky quiz, during which he bounds around the ornate studio, up and down stairs, asking questions and giving away motorcycles, washing machines, cars, cell phones and his own brand clothing.
By mid-evening - prime-time - the audience has been whipped up into a frenzy.
At one point Hussain approached a policeman in the audience, still in his uniform, asking him three questions about Islam. The bewildered policeman didn't have a clue. "So, tell where the main jail is in Karachi?" He knew that answer and won a cell phone. The audience erupted with laughter.
"This is the real Islam," Hussain says of his show. "It's a celebration. Light talk, serious talk, game show, children's party, cooking. It’s a celebration."
The first couple who'd received a prime-time baby, Riaz-Ud-Din and Tanzeem Riaz, confirmed that they had been through a series of interviews and knew they would be receiving the baby on live television.