EVERY Ramazan, the scene repeats itself. The sun sets, the fast is broken, the studio lights come up. Hundreds of people in their brightest clothes wave placards and wait to be chosen. On one side of the stage, a row of motorbikes gleams. On the other, cars sit under sponsors’ banners. The host strides out, the crowd roars, and the games begin. Answer a riddle. Recite a tongue twister. Squash a mango into your face, etc. If you are lucky, and loud enough, you go home with a motorbike.

In 2013, you might have gone home with a baby. That Ramazan, the show’s host Aamir Liaquat Hussain handed abandoned infants to screened, childless couples live on TV, between the phones and the land deeds. He insisted it was best for the children. Perhaps it was, but the ratings showed what the show was really for.

We have been watching this for more than a decade. The late Hussain launched the format of Ramazan shows in 2012, and Dawn reported in 2017 that networks earned up to Rs500,000 a minute in ad breaks. Asked why poor winners got luxury cars they couldn’t afford to run, he said they “will be able to sell them”.

I thought of those shows when a wedding in Sialkot turned deadly.........

© Dawn