FILE PHOTO: Aamir Liaquat Hussain gestures during a live show in Karachi, Pakistan July 26, 2013. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

Source: Reuters

Pakistan’s television regulator on Thursday banned a well-known talk show host for hate speech, after he hosted shows accusing liberal activists and others of blasphemy, an inflammatory allegation that could put their lives at risk.

Blasphemy is a criminal offence in Muslim-majority Pakistan that can result in the death penalty. Even being accused of blasphemy can provoke targeted acts of violence by religious right-wing vigilantes.

Aamir Liaquat Hussain, who describes his program aired on Bol TV as the country’s leading television show, had been at the forefront of a campaign to discredit liberal activists who went missing this month, as well as those defending them.

In a document sent to Bol TV and seen by Reuters, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority said Liaquat’s show “wilfully and repeatedly made statements and allegations which (are) tantamount to hate speech, derogatory remarks, incitement to violence against citizens and casting accusations of being anti-state and anti-Islam.”

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