IT is indeed painful to watch some Ramazan special programmes on TV in which the poverty, disease and other personal maladies of handpicked persons are propagated in the most blatant manner.

Financial help in the form of charity is then not only requested but also announced on air. Poor men, women and children are made to cry by describing their agonies in the most emotional style and then their tears are wiped under full focus of cameras. This amounts to gross violation of human dignity and exploitation of human emotion.

All bounds of courtesy and consideration were crossed when some children were presented on air by an anchor who announced, in front of the children, that these children were suffering from fatal diseases and were about to die shortly. These children were given the microphone and were persuaded to announce the fatal disease from which each of them was suffering.

Their last wish before death was also announced in their presence. Some children even denied that they were suffering from the fatal disease announced by the anchor. An expression of fear and dismay was clearly apparent on their faces. Can we hope and pray that more dignified ways of helping the needy would be found instead of exploiting human emotions on air, at the cost of violating human dignity!

CMDR (Rtd) Khalid Durrani Karachi