Pakistani TV Game Show Gives Away Abandoned Street Babies As Prizes

Aamir Liquat Hussain

The game show runs seven hours during the Ramadan period.

By H. Nelson Goodson

August 5, 2013

Karachi, Pakistan - CNN reported that a game show in Pakistan during Ramadan in July 28, has added babies to give away as prizes. The TV show aired live in Karachi is called "Amaan Ramazan" hosted by Aamir Liquat Hussain, 41, who says it better to give and make people happy than to receive.

During a broadcast, Hussain told the live audience, "If we wouldn't have found the baby, a cat or dog would have eaten it." Hussain then gave two baby girls away two several couples, one each. Riaz Uddin, 40, an engineer in Pakistan received one of the baby girls. A baby was scheduled to be given away in the following week, according to Hussain.

Hussain's game show website also posted a notice to appeal to parents who are facing poverty and want to give away their babies. The posted message states, "If any family cannot afford to bring up their newborn baby due to poverty or illness, then instead of killing them, they should hand over the baby to Dr. Aamir. The children would be given to deserving couples on air."

The abandon street babies are supplied by the Chhipa Welfare Association whose staffers go out into the streets to find the babies. "Our team finds babies abandoned on the street, in garbage bins — some of them dead, others mauled by animals. So why not ensure the baby is kept alive and gets a good home?" said Ramzan Chhipa, who runs the organization. "We didn't just give the baby away. We have our own vetting procedure. This couple was already registered with us and had four or five sessions with us."

The Pakistani game show is a similar version of the "Prize is Right" by which contestants win prizes for guessing the right answers to the Koran.

CNN reported that the couples who participated in the show didn't know that they would be parents and no paper work had been processed before the show aired and gave two baby girls away. Each couple received one baby.

Hussain couldn't explain, if everything was made possible to make sure the babies would be taken care off rather than just be looked as gifts to discard or sell, if the couples decide to get rid of them later.

In Pakistan there is no adoption process and the couples would now have to apply for guardianship at a local family court, according to CNN.

Video clip of Hussain's TV show at link:  http://bit.ly/14uYoUH