Enjoying the blog? Check these too. Nov 13, Nov 12, View More. Most viewed in last 24 hours. AsalamuAlikum, Everything that we've accomplished over the years is because of our members, who have allowed us to remain independent of corporate interests and reach Millions of followers. Why become a member?
Here are some of the features: Members can read the website without any advertising banners Member's user-id will be highlighted in comments Member will be allowed to create a signature that'll display under every comment Member will be able to create more than two threads per day. Will be able to join exclusive Siasat. Close dialog.
Session expired Please log in again. Sign in. Aamir Liaquat, who describes himself as "truly a legend" on his website, said: "We were already top of the ratings before we gave away a baby. We took these children from the garbage, from the trash, and delivered them to the needy people. In September , Aamir Liaqat dedicated an entire programme to exploring the beliefs of the Ahmadis, a sect who identify themselves as Muslim and follow the teachings of the Koran but are regarded by orthodox Muslims as heretical.
In it, two scholars said that anyone who associated with false prophets was "worthy of murder". Within 24 hours of the broadcast, a prominent member of the Ahmadi community was shot dead in the small town of Mirpur Khas. Pakistan hate cleric gets five years. The rise of Pakistan's televangelists.
Image source, Reuters. Religious broadcaster Aamir Liaquat Hussain is a controversial figure in Pakistan. Read more. Image source, AFP. There were protests over the disappearance of bloggers who Mr Hussain criticised. Got to love George, especially when he calls himself a Pakistani. Amir Liaqat makes me cry for Pakistan. This column is the BEST comprehensive analysis of the subject. The only problem is that those who can read your article are not his victims anyways! It's the poor and illiterate who would go for people like him.
For the same reason, I haven't met anybody ever who likes him! And his supporters, though in majority are from a different class. My point is: "George, if possible put it on YouTube so people can understand by listening to you! It also shows how Fake characters our TV channel bring to miss guide audience n sell their program.
No video can be edited or dubbed this much, where his hands are moving. D Don't take it offensively because whatever he said was true, be sad that very few people in Pakistan think like him.
That's so true. He has said in just a few words what many struggle to explain in whole books. Btw, good article, George. NFP has been a great influence on a number of rational columnists, including both you and Fasi Zaka.
George you nailed it. Religion does this to people. Witness the blind followers of the Maharishi, legions of slick US televangelists, assorted rabbis, shamans and medicine men. After all we know for a few years now that AMH's 'academic qualifications' were bought off an internet degree mill.
Why am I not surprised..? I believe that he repented himself. He is still doing a good job bringing us closer to our religion. Using abusive language off the screen is a matter between him and God. This does not mean he is misguiding us from Islam.
He is doing TV shows from last three to four years, if he had convinced even one person on Sirat,ul,mustakim, we should at least give him some credit. My question is what they are going to achieve by making this video.???. When most of us used slange language so called galliyan at one time of the day and then go for prayer the other time of the same day, when people who are drinkers and gamblers fast during Ramadan and pose as no one is more Muttaqi than them, then why we expect from celebs that they will be not as Munafiq as we are!
Why we think they will be different from us. If any of you watch this video on youtube, read the comments people have left on it. How can we justify that? People are leaving absolutely shameful and dirty comments about him on youtube. In that case I think they are no different. After reading that whole article, you really had room to think about [nevermind being concerned with] the fact that this was not written by a Pakistani?!
Isn't this the very thing that's wrong with our society? I'm having a hard time understanding why it would be relevant if this was written by an Egyptian or a Japanese individual, whether these views were of the President of United States or a member of the Zulu Tribe. The truth will stay the truth no matter whose mouth it comes out of.
I wonder why you keep calling him a doctor again and again. His PHD degree has been proved fake. Even Mubashar Luqmaan invited him to his program to talk about all this. Nadeem F Paracha has been tweeting about this incident but its only you who is writing about it.
I wonder why none of the other TV channels or newspapers are highlighting it. I agree with the part when you mentioned about our problems being psychological than any other Accepting the reality is one thing but as far as my observation is concerned, the reluctance to accept his real face is more from the side of our senior citizens who might spend more time watching TV than being on the internet Now the issue with this guy is that he faces the camera denying the footage all the way.
Had our softwares been so advanced that they could manipulate gestures, tones, facial expressions and the song that he was singing, Hollywood would have been at our doorstep asking for the copy rights or trying to buy it off for an amount that could have relaxed our country's debt burden. We know why George, you sir, are a true legend!
I would have you as the new 'aalim online' anyday in place of this "ghalib film dekhi hai" doctor. Brilliant article! My sentiments exactly.
Thank you George for putting my thoughts to words so beautifully! Wishing if nadeem paracha could write about this too.. I never opened the link Frank, fankly speaking, you are on the dot Frank leave these self loathing losers. BTW i am not a fan of Dr Liaquat. We should try to oust this man Amir Liaquat Hussain from the media. Nasty man should not be making fool of the innocent ordinary people. Frank, this kind of thinking represents a hypocricy of the highest order, when one of us gets a western countries citizenship of a western country, we expect full and equal rights including the right to critisize on social issue, while when George a Pakistani citizen does the same you find it hard to digest.
Bigotry has no limits it seems Out of all the irrational, delusional and psychologically disturbed Pakistanis, comes forward a divorcee of Pakistan who had left with a whiny note for those who were still in a relationship with it. A post divorce therapy is usually recommended for divorcees who just cant stop whining even after the divorce. Sajawal Javaid: I salute you for having such a clear , practical and nice attitude, But these people will never understand because they want to be deceived ,they want to live in false world.
Hopeless people they are Who can not see the truth even if you prove it hundred times. And salute to georg too for showing his concerns about Pakistan. Yes Frank, you are alone.
George the 'Englishman' is as Pakistani as anyone else is, what's your point? This clip is not dubbed at all, but the point is dont we all swear in our daily lives? I am not trying to advocate amir or geo or ary or any molvi for that matter, admit it, we all love to gossip.
And after some time we have something to talk about other than Shahrukh and Kareena read shaista and sahir :. The video is not dubbed and it can be proved anywhere but i beleive amir liaqat if he really thinks this video is dubbed should get an audio forensic expert on his show and prove it live on air that its fake :. Best for him was to ignore this video. Its been the norm since the creation of pakistan, they have all looted, lied and wheeled their way in, and all in the name of Allah. Religion has been instilled in our society via fear and we have been conditioned not to question these personalities as they use religious dogma to enforce their authority.
Its about time all these clowns got their real faces exposed , so sick of seeing these commercialised religious so called scholars forcing their weird notions and opinions in urdu laced with a heavy arab accent to the unassuming fearful simple public of Pakistan. I so not agree! Whatever happened, the videos should not be coming out like this from video channels.. In fact, he has all the right to make any and all statements he made, and I for one agree with him completely.
He always looked phony and a fraud to me. My wife never agreed and always thought of him as a poised and devoted man. Great article True reflection of the facts. You said everything I wanted to say, in a better way indeed!! Hats off to you for your courage and frankness.
This is just ridiculous! A few swears does not make a person good or bad. One should hate him for the two-faced wanabe Shahrukh khan that he is not because of this video. The whole purpose of "leaking" this video was to malign his character obviously by the people who are extremely jealous of his success on ARY. Agree with what George has written and majority of the Pakistani believe Dr.
Amir is a great actor and a fake so I dont think any sane person is supporting him but is it a coincidence that whenever something bad comes up in Pakistan, immediately we see an article from George There are hundreds of good things that are happening in Pakistan. Have you George ever bothered to write how thousands if not millions are supporting our local Pakistanis with charity, how so many hospitals like shaukat khanam and many other clinics and hospitals are treating patients for free, have you ever bothered to write about Edhi?
I guess the moment he mentioned Nadeed Farooq Paracha as his friend, it all summed up for me :. Pakistanis in general r humane but innocent people There has never been dearth of people like Dr in our country and religion read mullahs, aamil babas who have been duping the public.
Most recent is the copyrights war on the moon sighting But people like Dr piqued my curiosity and a quest to find out the real Islam for myself I started reading the Holy Quran with translation If instead of relying on fast food-like answers to our every religious problem from these so-called scholars we toil ourselves , we will be much more enlightened So there is a silver lining This video proves it.
I have seen him misbehaving with airlines employees at the airport. Well I guess you and the 57 odd who recommended your post didn't get the memo, this Englishman is a Pakistani! Muhammad Ahmed: i agree.. Very Good article George!! I have always been fan your Intelligence. People are delusional when they say that this video is fake!! Well they should realize this, that the dubbing and sound effects could be fake,but the Amir Liaquat's gestures were very much relevant to context and the Abusive language that he shared!
Above; Why do we always go for cmplx answers to our Q. I am not the authority to judge sm1 but the video is far better than being a fake in my view Rest Allah knows better!!
This guy so called Dr. Liaquat went beyond swearing Reciting poetry of insulting nature to some certain sect Drinking tea before ifhtar Making fun of serious question Overall Article is well written Ahmad: Why not compare Aamir Liaquat to Bhutto? They can both be categorised as two-faced hypocrites - Bhutto was not great saint. There was a huge gap between his words and deeds. If you bother to read history, you would know that at the exact time that he was throwing his famous tantrum at the UN, the army had already at his prodding agreed to surrender in Dhaka.
And that's just one example - ever seen the fawning and sycophantic letters Mr Bhutto wrote to Ayub Khan? The personalities of these two "gentlemen" are very similar: egotistic, narcissist charlatans who mislead people. Nice article, but i'm of the opinion that these problems are not just limited to Pakistani society. People have the tendency to follow blindly throughout the world. Take Fox News as an example - a major percentage of Americans rely heavily on Fox for their news coverage and take whatever is reported by them as hard stone facts.
Jon Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report among other online websites and more have shown how Fox distorts the news headlines to make their point, but still, people follow it without hesitation. Perhaps that's not the perfect example. But regardless, it is definitely a fact that Pakistan is hit hard by these problems.
A major population consists of illiterate people or those who don't have enough resources to investigate anything on their own. When they're told that its nothing but just a dubbed to disgrace Amir Liaqut they believe it easily because in their mind, the world is full of corruption and anything is possible with technology.
The best part of the article is the denial phenomena of us. This video never came as a surprise to me. He is a "shobda baaz" a "Madari" so as most in fact all of our politicians are.
I think that we as a nation have a very low standard of morality. Please note that he was not alone when he was doing all this, there were producers, technicians, office boys, camera men and God knows what other technical staff and may I mention the Mullas.
Out of these people no one had the moral standard to stand up and say anything to this man. I am absolutely sure that most of us who are putting comments here including Mr. Fulton would not have said a word if this was happening in their presence. So for me Aamir Liaqat is just one of us he is as normal as a normal Pakistani, it is just that he can sell him self better.
Truly sad : Dr Aamir Liaquat has sent proposals to Reema Pesturing her through text messages. Why isn't he blamed? He is a liar! Very well written indeed! Every word of it is so true. I congratulate you on producing an other extraordinary peice of work; keep it up George, i support you.
Really well Done article, but i wish the poor illiterate people of Pakistan may also be able to understand the reality of the situation. The sad part is that doctor sahib represents us, Pakistanis. Like it or not, this is the face of Pakistan that the world sees.
I agree with the earlier comment that a boycott of channel, would bring some humility to our narcissistic doctor sahib. Am surprised that the higher ups at ARY aren't taking any action to mitigate the damage, what's up with that 'haji' shahab?
Firstly economic social and monetary problems DO lead to psychological problems. Secondly the HR manager for GEO or watever channel is to be blamed for hiring such a person to do the job.. I have not came across a single person supporting Aamir Liaquat's acts! Your assumption that Pakistani society is going to buy the same Manjan which he is selling from past 10 years is not so sound!
Secondly Nadeem F. Paracha himself need some treatment of his psychological state, not the Pakistani society. I mean dude!! Look at the misery and corruption this society is going through!!! Do you expect a normal society in such situation? It took me an hour to read your article with the help of Dictionary, what were you trying to prove Amir Liaquat's guilt or your English writing. Oh and btw This is the problem with the entire Muslim community not just Pakistanis.
Psychology of a nation is shaped by how the masters engineer it. We have been educated to believe in logical fallacies, false glorification etc for more than sixty years and the product is ready now. If you tell somebody that Allama Iqbal had committed a murder or that he used to drink too, his faith in Islam would crumble down in seconds and you had better runaway from the scene or get slapped at least, if not killed.
Those who think this Dr. I have yet to come across an educated and practicing Muslim who even make an attempt to listen to such half baked Mullahs cum scholars.
Its nice to know from the replies that there are people courageous enough and capable of picking up the useful matter out of story.
The fact that media is in state of strong competition is benefitting public by uncovering the facts, and the release of editor cut versions have become very popular among viewers. It is definitely an important factor to consider the credibility of person, who's advice we are banking on, but it is more important to judge and regularly double check the credibility.
But lets re-think, firstly are we supposed to rely on commercial media which is supposed to make money, by telecasting what majority likes to watch and hear, not exactly truth.
Secondly, isn't it more important to double check credibility of information, when there is authentic source available. The information on Alim Online is not first hand information for which only the credibility of source is only option.
We should sacrifice our grey matter and some of gossip time to check the credible sources for correctness of his presented info. Thirdly, is anyone here really dreaming of having personal relationship with media people, who's best cashable skill is to entrance people with sellable speeches, truth or not.
George's point on socially widespread social behaviour issues are valid, and they're not limited to Pakistan. But makes these problems severe in Pakistan is our own reluctance to gain true knowledge. Remember something? An average Pakistani wont go to nearest library or even internet archives, to verify the commercial info on the TV. Changing channel is not the root solution, changing attitude is!
If we can can do that ,Channels will change themselves, we wont have to. Excellent article! It's sad and ironic to read some comments here, which makes this article even more logical. It's a shame that so many Pakistanis live abroad and western societies own them provide them a new identity and first class status, and people here are pointing finger at George and calling him an outsider when he is trying to be one of us, thus calling addressing himself as "WE" Thanks.
Yes, true.. Strange nation we are.. At one point we burn our cities in the name of Islam, and at the other we just ignore cause one of their own hypocrite is in the limelight for wrong reasons We are a nation in denial. Even when faced with the truth about these unsavoury characters we are still unable to accept their faults. Disagree with you. The calls that he is receiving on his show doesn't seem to be live calls. ARY can't take the risk of allowing live calls.
The wide spread condemnation on twitter and facebook tells the truth. Do you think that even a single person would not have tried to call on his show to condemn his act? Those who still want to follow him blindly would not be more than few.. I am glad to see a charlatan exposed in such a manner. I agree that its a psychological disorder of poor Pakistani people but the root-cause is illiteracy which makes people stubborn in their beliefs, they are not ready to accept that their beliefs could be wrong, rather they concocted a story to protect it.
Again this awareness doesn't come up if media doesn't play its due role given massive scale ignorance. It was when I saw Aamir Liaqat in National Assembly in a post budget briefing and he was exposed to the audience then wearing jeans and a round necked t-shirt. He was sleepy and irresponsible as his other counterparts were - totally non-professional and non obligatory.
So I haven't been a fan of him at anytime rather surprised that how a pseudo scholar mislead the innocent and simple people. I also remember a program in which he laid down in a grave to represent himself a God-fearing personality But everything was fake and just for the personal motives to increase its viewership For me the statement "Aamir Liaquat is a hypocrite" carries as much news value as "this government is corrupt".
Lets face it, we are all hypocrites but luckily we don't have our lives on tape. Trust me I have heard many a scholars curse more than Aamir has in this compilation. I will not side his verbal vomit because yes, he should control it in a religious surrounding. Yet the question is, why was the off-air footage leaked from Geo TV at a time when he has left the channel and when his Ramzan transmission is doing well elsewhere.
What was the intention behind this timing and who is the mastermind? Now don't say Aamir is the only hypocrite in this issue George You have depicted the real picture of our society, the basic problem here in Pakistan is not lack of resources but the acceptance of our follies. Whenever we caught red handed, we blame on others that this is their mistake. Thanks once again to tell us the real problem of not accepting our crime. Hope one day Pakistani society will be the nation who has courage to accept their mistake and learn from those mistakes.
Love you George! Anyone who patronizes you because of your British origins and questions your use of the word 'we' is exactly the person you are talking about. They would love to run away to another country but they criticize you because they'll do all in their power to not take criticism and stay an Ostrich. George, very well said That little box of evil that is now present in every room has corrupted us more than it has educated us.
Everyday we are turning out to be worse rather than become good. Ali Akbar Khan: Unless this is a tongue in cheek comment, your innocence and naivety is simply amazing:D. Love this article esp the bit about us having a "psychological problem" on top of very other problem. I never like the guy starting from controversies on his fake Phd degree and his way of juggling sects. But its all pretty hopeless. He will stay and in a bit we will forget about this video and move on with his shows etc.
We are a crazy crazy nation. Great job George The examples you gave of Bhutto Sb. We have yet to see how our media, specially TV channels, will treat him now. Ali Akbar Khan: LOL You really need to get around to the madarsaas and hang out with the taravih gang to see who cusses like what.
Let's use the suspension of disbelief then - today a man claims to have this fake VDO with an impersonator - tomorrow when he commits a crime in public and is arrested he will claim that there was an impersonator. My strategy would be to change a mind set by using a pen. So pls. Brilliant piece of writing, mate!
And like others, I'd love to lay claim to these sentiments. It IS about time we got ourselves rid of shady, slimy religion-mongers. Ali Akbar Khan: Get a life Ali. Sadly in every incident we try to find a conspiracy against muslim world. It is time muslims start acting like muslims.
You are absolutely right people who are still in denial are actually delusioned.. Clearly dr liaqat doesn't deserve to be named that cause his PhD degree is fake as well should have adopted Pakistan film industry as his career instead of being the so called Alim.
It feels as if each one of us is a senseless drone How can people believe the so called Dr. Amirs lie about the video being dubbing and blah blah, man technology has far exceeded the expectations of man and movies like Avatar have come out but it is still not reality.
I blame the current condition of our state on our mind less drones. That is the main reason behind the so called leaders being elected to run a mockery in our country yes our country, people like them have no place in our country!!!!! Actually Frank, this IS his business. You know why? Because he is a Pakistani citizen. It is his duty to point out the problems in his country.
It is his duty to remind all of us how we can change in a positive way. That's inspiration man. Instead of appreciating an article that points out the problems in our country, you are criticizing him for the reality. Maybe Pakistanis aren't the only ones in denial. There are people like you who are also like that. If it's anyone to mind their own business, it is you because you're saying something completely unrelated to the topic of the article.
So Frank, next time say something positive about the reality and inspiration of the article rather than some useless comment that makes you look like the most stupid person here. This holier than thou TV elavangelist is a phoney like all of the so called religious types.
Real piety comes from within and has to do with doing things without seeking recognition. Aamir Liaqat!!!!! You can not have it both ways, fake doctor But it was indeed hilarious to see his clarifications.
First call Mekkah, second Medina and there would be many innocent fools who would buy it. In fact we do. There are many such examples in our own lives where we start discussing theology in a group of friends, while curse in the very next moment.
Check this out:. Hats off Great Article and for those who still beleive the video was fake you guys probably beleive that Our President is the most honest person on the face of the Earth. Falling in love with them rather than contemptuously rejecting them'' i could completely relate these two.
Gosh, you really are right at him being the Zaid Hamid of TV religious news presenters. I feel like every channel in Pakistan is like Fox News, you'll have Zaid Hamid the so called security expert who is the Pakistani version of Ann Coulter youtube her if you don't know who she is and on the other end you have Liaqat and Zakir Naik yeah he's Indian, but he's popular with Pakistanis , the good ol' kill the Ahmadis and support Osama brigade who we have labelled religious scholars for some reason and yes they're on every channel.
But reading the comments it seems like it's worked and people think this is a foreign plot to ruin Liaqat, because we all know Mossad's No 1 target is Aamir Liaquat, don't tell the Feds, but I've heard they're going to attack Chef Rahat next! Apparently her Biryanis are what are keeping Pakistan stable and they know that ruining her career is what will destroy Pakistan! It is all about how you look at this video. If u watch it as a neutral and just observer, u may actually feel sympathy for dr sahab.
But if u r going to be judgmental, then yes, u can find a lot of dirt. It is a pity that such a talent is being mocked in Pakistan. We dont deserve great people! Sadly what we see on media talk shows and programs like one of so called Dr. Aamir, it is alla dding to our psychological problems. If one has to keep the minds alive and develop some rational thoughts of own, it i sbest to avoid seeing such people preaching some vested interest agenda.
Good Article. Agree entriely with the point that we wont progress unless we realize that the current predicament is becasue of us not because of U. S or any external force. As soon as we remove the 'evil' residing in us we will progress regardless of force of 'external evil'. Back to Amir, cant fathom how a nation can take inspiration from a guy whose body language in programme aired sounded so artificial and whose degrees sound very suspicious.
What I don't get is: why are "Pakistanis" offended? I mean this sort of proves George's point here, doesn't it? We do live in denial and even when it stares us in the face, we tend to look away and pretend that "everything is just faiynnneee". Why do we need to be oh so self righteous? It makes me physically sick when I read comments that just voice an opinion "just because" Very true,,,,these people should immediately be thrown out from the limelight because they are playing with the ideological sentiments of innocent people.
Frank: He is a Pakistani National by the way. And He has every right which every other Pakistani enjoys. What if he was still with Geo? Had anyone from Geo shared this archive when he was with them? The point is, whatever coming right or wrong, is from a harass-them-all source unless or until they have no place to hide their faces.
Plus we made him famous and its us who are responsible. A well written article though. Delusion, denial and "Disappointing" Dr. Well, he can deny it in the face of naive viewers, n they will continue to bestow him with their trust, but he will never be able to gain that self respect , which previously gave him so much confidence rather over confidence; that he was a becoming self proclaimed prodigy!!!
Saddddd Aamir Liaqat Go back to Trinity College, complete your studies n cm back to give it all fresh start! Ali Akbar Khan: Maybe you're right. No 'mussalmaan' can ever use that kind of language, but who's to say 'Dr' Liaquat is one? Why are religious people so easy to fool? Get a beard, pronounce your urdu words in a fake arabic accent and people just blindly start following you in this country.
Like Junaid Jamshed, who spends more time giving sermons about the 70 hoors of jannat and making money the 'islamic' way. Also, great article! You explained quite well how we as a nation easily get manipulated by such people. At one point years ago, I was fascinated with Bhutto's Security Council stunt myself.
But you haven't proposed a solid solution, just a bunch of problems in us. I only came across this today as I happened to be speaking to someone in a social circle and they relayed the incident that had taken place with Dr Amir Liaquat. I won't lie I was taken aback after watching his video on you tube as I never imagined that I'd get to hear or see such behaviour from him purely because me and my fam have been religiously following his transmissions throughout Ramzan and to think someone like him would indulge in such indecent acts, use demeaning and foul language was beyond my belief and thinking.
What else can I say certainly an eye opener but definitely not something new as we've accounted such incidents before and its time that Pakistani nation takes notice before its too late. All TV Evangelists are phonies; they're in there to make money. Anybody who believes Aamir Liaquat is a genuine scholar and student of Islam is indeed crazy On a lighter note, Mr Liaquat has to hold some sort of world record, for even Einstein would've struggled to complete his PhD SIX days after his masters.
Muhammad Ahmed: Your comment is a bit disorienting itself. Are you complimenting George for his article or criticising him for it? Frank: Would you still wish to invest your hard earned money with the likes of Bernard Madoff after finding out that he was the greatest con artist that has ever existed. And would you still tell someone to mind their own business if that person told you about the true nature of people like these? I guess not.
A lot of simple people invest their faiths and welbeings with the likes of Amir Liaquat. Call them idiots or what nots but they do and they might deserve to be screwed up based on their ignorance but that might always not be the case.
What if that someone is someone you love. Would you still mind your own business and see them getting screwed? If yes, then I guess you yourself need a bit of reality check my dear friend. Shehryar: You seriously think the video is fake?
Man either you have absolutely no technical knowledge of video editing or you are badly trying to find some excuse to not to stop liking Aamir Liaquat. Go ahead enjoy your Mezan Ramazan Hamsafar, since when our nation has started worrying about quality of our religious scholars.
Sad state of our nation.
0コメント