In our culture, one is not permitted to speak ill of the dead, you can't even mention his bad qualities or vices. I didn't like Amir Liaquat Hussain, just as I dislike Imran Khan, both of whom had similar qualities.
I have never liked people who try to make others think that they are very good Muslims. I was having lunch in a restaurant when three people at a table nearby started arguing. One of them got up and said he would pray the afternoon prayer right there. He repeatedly emphasized that he always carried a prayer carpet with him. The restaurant manager pointed to a mosque on the other side of the road and told him to go there and offer his prayers. Everyone in the restaurant was convinced that the man was a fraudster.
Amir Liaquat Hussain was such a man. He started as a newscaster on Geo, then got the idea of starting a religious program (Aalim online) that became very popular. Women, in particular, liked him for weeping and supplicating the Almighty on holy nights. It is said that the wife or mother of former President Musharraf were his devoted fans. This may be one reason why he was considered to be a sacred cow. Even though there were several complaints (from journalists and minority groups), the higher authorities were scared to take action against him (it is reported that even some generals pressurized the authorities to refrain).
His fiery lectures incited people to kill two Ahmedis. He ran a campaign against the late Junaid Jamshed (who had to live abroad for a year to avoid being killed).
It was a few months back that his downfall began. He had become so unpopular that no TV channel was willing to hire him for Ramzan programs. He took another wife after divorcing the first one, but the second marriage didn't last long. Then he married an 18-year old girl who was 32 years younger than him, but she got sick of him just two or three months later. Just last month he announced that he would settle abroad, an announcement that was widely welcomed on the social media, but for some reason he didn't go.
He did one thing that I didn't expect: he publicly scolded Imran Khan in the run-up to the No-confidence motion that the latter lost. He openly said that he would vote in favor of the motion. He berated Imran Khan for causing divisions among the top army generals.
So, when he died in his sleep yesterday, I was shocked but not so sorry. I will not be a hypocrite and say he was a good man, because he had so many victims whose peace he destroyed.
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