A controversial Pakistani TV presenter, TV preacher and politician has been found dead at home aged 50.
Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a former member of Imran Khan’s party, was found unconscious in his locked bedroom in Karachi this morning. Paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead en route to hospital.
It comes less than a month after Liaquat’s third wife – 18-year-old Syeda Dania Aamir – filed for divorce and claims he is an abusive alcoholic who forced her to film pornographic videos with other men, which he denies.
Liaquat was both a hugely popular and hugely divisive figure in Pakistan – a former televised preacher and religious affairs minister who went on to host game shows, where he once gave babies away to childless couples.
Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a controversial Pakistani TV presenter and politician, was found dead at home weeks after his divorce from 18-year-old third wife Dania (left and right).
Liaquat rose to prominence as a televangelist in the early 2000s before becoming Minister for Religious Affairs, then returned to television after being forced to resign in 2007
Servant Javaid, who spoke to Pakistan’s Tribune newspaper, said he knocked on Liaquat’s locked bedroom door several times in the morning but received no response.
He called the authorities, who broke down the door and found Liaquat unconscious.
Javaid said Liaquat had complained of chest pains and mourned his marriage the night before – and accused his ex-wife of putting a ‘curse’ on him.
Liaquat’s career began in 2001 on Pakistan’s popular Geo TV channel, where he hosted a religious show called Aalim Online, which garnered him a large following.
The son of a politician father and a columnist, he began his own entry into politics in 2002 when he won elections as a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Party.
Liaquat was quickly promoted to Minister for Religious Affairs by then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a post he held until 2007, when he was forced to resign for saying British-Indian author Salman Rushdie deserved to die.
He returned to television, this time hosting a hugely popular game show called Ramazan, which marathoned for seven hours a day during the Muslim holy month.
During the shows, viewers were chosen to answer questions about the Qur’an and great prizes such as motorbikes, washing machines, microwave ovens and refrigerators were presented.
In a highly controversial series of shows in July and August 2013, Liaquat gave away babies to childless couples chosen from the audience.
Liaquat hosted the religion-themed game show Ramazan, in which he gave out prizes to people for answering questions about the Qur’an – once giving away babies (pictured).
The babies had been donated to the show by a charity that found them abandoned in Karachi and Liaquat insisted the parents had been checked
Liaquat defended the episodes, saying the children were brought to him by a charity that collects abandoned babies on the streets of Karachi and the couples were previously screened.
But CNN reported at the time that the couples hadn’t been told in advance they would have children during the show and were asked to sign all papers – meaning the adoptions weren’t legally binding.
He then resumed his political career in 2018, winning the election a second time as a member of Imran Khan’s PTI party before splitting with the body after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote earlier this year.
Liaquat’s private life was also turbulent. It’s not clear when Liaquat married his first wife – Bushra – but the couple were together long enough to have two children: daughter Dua and son Ahmed.
They divorced some time before 2020, with Bushra later revealing that Liaquat broke the news to her over the phone in December of that year while speaking to his second wife – Syeda Tuba Aamir – whom he had married two years earlier.
Liaquat has been bitter since his third divorce and has hinted in social media posts that he plans to leave Pakistan “for good”.
Pakistani marriage laws allow a husband to divorce his wife without the wife’s consent or knowledge, after which he is free to remarry.
But the second union only lasted two years, and Tuba filed for divorce from Khula in February this year – a split the wife is initiating.
Liaquat wasted no time in getting married again, this time to 18-year-old Dania, with whom he tied the knot later that same month.
But that marriage fell apart even faster when Dania revealed they filed for divorce over Khula in May after just four months together.
Dania tried to justify the move in a tearful Instagram video, in which she accused Liaquat of being an alcoholic, drug user, physically and emotionally abusive and of prostituting her with other men.
She claimed he was impotent and forced her to have sex with other men on tape, which he then distributed to people abroad.
If she refused, Liaquat would imprison her for days, she claimed. He also threatened to shoot her, strangled her and beat her in front of the servants, she said.
Liaquat denied all claims, but Dania said she has evidence she is willing to present at her upcoming divorce hearings.
Liaquat returned to politics in 2018 as a member of Imran Khan’s PKI party, but recently resigned when the leader was ousted in a confidence vote
Photographs of Liaquat in compromising positions were also published around the same time.
Liaquat responded by uploading bitter posts to Instagram saying goodbye to his country and ex-wives, claiming they never cared about him.
In one of those posts on May 18, he wrote: “After a while I will issue my final statement regarding the filthy fiasco from the country of Pakistan and then leave forever.”
The news of his death triggered a wave of sadness.
President’s spokesman Dr. Arif Alvi wrote on Twitter: “The President expressed his condolences and [prayed for the strength of] the family [to bear the loss].”
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari wrote: “Dr. Aamir Liaquat Hussain led a dynamic life from journalism to politics.
‘He has proven himself in various areas of life in writing and orally.’
The National Assembly issued condolences from Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durani, who mourned his “sad passing”.