Amir Liaquat Hussain’s short lived detention in Myanmar and subsequent deportation to Pakistan is the sort of news that leaves the casual reader confused.
He is a confusing character after all. Since dropping the annual televangelist gimmick, he seems to have lost a major chunk of his formerly dedicated followers. But for someone so widely disliked and ridiculed by the public, the extent of his influence is surprising.
Maybe it’s his populist message and the bravado that backs it. Perhaps, nee Donald Trump, people like that he “tells it like it is,” even if they don’t particularly like him. Whatever it is, his word is simultaneously hated and revered. But most importantly heard.
Amir Liaquat is the equivalent of a high school jock who is universally disliked yet insanely popular. That is exactly why the situation was so confusing for so many people.
On the one hand, he was going to Myanmar to, in his own words, help out an oppressed minority currently facing what can only be called genocide. An undoubtedly noble cause. For anyone aware of the situation of the Rohingya muslim community in the Rakhine province of Myanmar, Amir’s actions are heroic. Even for someone that doesn’t particularly like him, the prevailing feeling would be that yes, at least he was doing something.
The same sort of feeling may exist for Waqar Zaka, who was accompanying Amir. The entertainer largely restricted to snapchat, and being made fun of for almost getting his head shaved had been Amir Liaquat’s travel buddy for this trip. Before this, in the middle of his many depravities, Waqar had also spent an Eid with displaced children in Syria. He too was detained and sent back to Pakistan.
It is not for anyone to judge the intentions of either of these two men, or even to question why they were recording their act of humanitarian relief every single step of the way.
However there are certain things that need to be addressed.
For one, Amir Liaquat was supposedly there to ‘cover’ the events in Rakhine as a reporter for the Bol media group. Or at least that’s the official story. Indeed, he even roped in Waqar Zaka on the same basis, as a part of his ‘reporting team’. He had even offered to get a “UN journalist visa” for the purposes of the trip.
One questions just what this coverage entailed that required Waqar Zaka to come along. Surely there was no need to play with snakes or make odd finger shapes. More importantly, if the two were there to cover the humanitarian crisis, why were they constantly playing it out as a relief effort for the Rohingyas on social media? The only benefit one sees is the commendation that Amir received for his efforts.
That and the donations Dr Liaquat must have received. Because yes, before he took his ‘journalistic’ trip to the hotbed of ethnic tension that is Myanmar, Amir asked for donations. Tweeting out details of the bank account of the Mehmooda Sultana foundation, he encouraged his followers to contribute and “help the oppressed Muslims of Myanmar.”
Amir Liaquat’s is a rather profitable sort of journalism it seems.
One can never expect any reporter, that too in a war zone, to be completely impartial. Even more so when a deeper connection exists on the basis of shared faith. However, you wouldn’t expect that person to be collecting funds to go help those people as well as report on them.
More importantly, with him back in the country, anybody knowing this, or anybody that had made donations, would be hoping that they go back to the rightful people or have at least been spent on more than the good doctor and his friend’s travel and being-kicked-out-of-a-country expenses.
While it feels more than a little uncomfortable given his own self-promotional hero-that-saves-damsels-in-distress, one has to appreciate Iqrar ul Hassan Syed for once. He too is in Myanmar. His reasons too are up for debate. But at least he makes sure to officially tell his viewers and followers that he is indeed out there to cover the event. Not implying he is there to singlehandedly rescue the Rohingya community. He went so far as to have a fight over twitter to claim his impartiality.
Let’s hope the praise is not wasted on him, and that he doesn’t try to save the Rohingyas from the expensive milk mafia or substandard halwa production (or collecting donations like some), and sticks to doing what he’s there to do.
