Pakistan Gives Away Babies on Live TV Show

‘Amaan Ramadhan’ is a hugely popular quiz during the month of Ramadhan... dubbed as Pakistan version of the US hit “The Price is Right”.

The studio audience receive prizes for answering questions on the Quran.

The give way includes motorbikes, microwave ovens, fridges.... and this year.....

...Babies!

TV host Aamir Liaquat Hussain hands over a baby girl to one winner.

“I have a dream that you called that girl Ayesha,” he says.

Receiving the baby is 40-year-old housewife Kiswer Sultan.

She who has been married for 16 years but has not been able to have children. 

“Now I’m a mother on this holy month of Ramadhan. My daughter is with me now. I’m very happy.”

Her new baby.... and the others given away on the show were found by a local NGO that works on the streets in Karachi.

Ramadhan Chippa runs the charity, the Chippa Welfare Association.  He says they often find abandon babies.....

“We have appealed to the people from day one not to leave their children on the streets... Don’t leave them on the streets, garbage areas, sewerage lines and other areas. Sometimes dogs or other animals eat them.”

His group has set-up 60 emergency centres across Karachi where desperate parents can abandon their babies safely.

In Pakistan is only legal when needed to save a mother's life.

And every month, the charity group can find up to 15 abandoned babies every month.

“We constantly campaigns to raise people’s awareness not to kill a baby. It’s a matter of killing a human being.”

A total of five babies were given away as prizes on the TV show during the holy month of Ramadhan.

The TV host says it’s for a “noble cause”... but not everyone agrees with that.

“The baby is given away live on a TV show,” says Rana Asif, a child’s rights activist from NGO Initiator of Human Development.

“There’s no confidentiality. It shows no respect to ethics, morality and social values. The baby is exposed and when the baby is grown, she might face stigma or discrimination in the future.”

But new mother Kiswer Sultan says she has no doubts that she will be a good mother to her prize baby.

“Now God gives me Ayesha... I’m very thankful to Allah, Dr Hussain and Mr Chippa.”