'Taliban channel' a hit in Pak

Women kept out

 
Conceived and produced by Younis Butt, whose sense of humour is par excellence, the show begins with two “Taliban” hosts, who speak Urdu with a Pushtu accent, making the all-important announcement: “The opinion of women will not be included on this channel.”

The first segment of the programme is a spoof on an awards show. A woman bags the best actor award but since she is a woman, she cannot be shown on TV. The ‘Taliban’ anchor announces that the award goes to a woman for her stunning portrayal and then quickly adds — “the co-actors were horses!”

The next segment is the “silent segment” because a woman is scheduled to sing. Since she can’t perform under the Taliban regime, she sits fully covered with her back to the audience for a good hour!

Launched by the makers of the popular TV show ‘Hum Sab Umeed Sai Hain’, the section on Channel T has earned the producers more fans.

Butt, whose spoofs on politicians and the state of the country are a huge hit, has a clear winner in Channel T.

“The best form of fighting terrorism is to expose them, so that normal people will have no sympathy for them. That is only way we can isolate them. Then we can fight them,” he told BBC. Like all other popular Pakistani TV programmes, there is a food show and a talk show.

The talk show is called Aaj Muslim Khan Ke Saath — a reference to well-known Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan from Swat valley — and in the food show, men are advised to learn cooking from a male host and then pass on the skills to women who cannot be expected to watch a man cook!

Birthday bumps are ‘Birthday Bombs’ on Channel T and they go off every day — just as bullets are shot every hour for a time check. If three bullets are fired, it is 3 pm, the Taliban host explains.

The other highlight of the show is  ‘Voice of al-Qaeda’, where bearded militants give an update on breaking stories.