Islamabad: Pakistan’s media watchdog on Thursday accused a prominent television preacher of hate speech and banned his hugely popular show, silencing the high-profile host after years of controversy.

Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a charismatic star criticised in 2013 for giving out babies to childless couples live on prime-time television, had been accused of inciting hate against supporters of five progressive activists who disappeared earlier this month.

He was told his programme on Bol News had been ended “with immediate effect” and prohibited from appearing on the channel “in any manner” even in old footage, with Bol warned it would lose its licence if it did not comply.

In a document sent to Bol TV, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority said Liaquat’s show “wilfully and repeatedly made statements and allegations which (are) tantamount to hate speech, derogatory remarks, incitement to violence against citizens and casting accusations of being anti-state and anti-Islam.” Liaquat did not answer calls to his mobile telephone on Thursday and representatives of Bol TV were not immediately available for comment.

He had accused several prominent Pakistanis of an anti-state agenda and being either sympathetic to, or directly involved in, blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Hussain was also prohibited from delivering “any hate speech” or branding anyone an infidel or a traitor on any other channel, according to the statement from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

It said the decision came after Hussain had been monitored for several weeks, and that it had received “hundreds” of complaints about his repeated violations.

Rights activist Jibran Nasir, who has spearheaded some of the demonstrations over the missing bloggers and is among those maligned by Hussain, tweeted that a police complaint had also been made.

“Pemra did its job & we should be glad about it but our real job is still left. We can rejoice when the missing come back home. Back to work!” he wrote.

The five bloggers were reported missing from various cities in Pakistan early this month, raising fears of a crackdown.

Human Rights Watch said their near simultaneous disappearances raised concerns of government involvement, which officials and intelligence sources have denied.

A virulent social media campaign painting the missing as blasphemers has triggered a flood of threats despite denials from their worried families.

The charge, which carries the death penalty, is hugely sensitive in deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations have stirred mob lynchings and murder.

Hussain, a former lawmaker, is no stranger to controversy.

Under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, he was forced to resign as junior religious affairs minister because of his views on the controversial blasphemy laws.

He was also unable to authenticate an alleged degree in Islamic Studies from a college in Spain. Known as doctor, he claims to have a diploma from a medical college in Pakistan.

In 2008, guests invited onto one of his shows said members of the Ahmadi minority should be killed.

Two well-known Ahmadis were subsequently murdered, although there was no evidence linking their killings to the TV show.

In 2013 he was unrepentant about the storm over his Ramadan show, which saw him give babies away to childless couples, denying the move was a ratings stunt.

“People love me, that is why they watch me. Through television we spread the message of tolerance,” he said at the time.

In 2011, the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards after he called for reform of the country’s blasphemy laws.

Taseer’s killer, Mumtaz Qadri, was executed but not before becoming a hero in the eyes of the religious right.

At least 65 others have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, figures from the Center for Research and Security Studies and media show.

One of the targets of Liaquat’s show was activist lawyer Jibran Nasir, who filed a police complaint under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act on Thursday charging him with “running a defamatory and life-threatening campaign”.

Classical dancer Sheema Kirmani has received death threats after Liaquat targeted her on his January 19 broadcast.

Classical dance was banned under the regime of military dictator Zia ul Haq, who pushed for greater “Islamisation” of Pakistan in the 1980s, as being associated with obscenity.

The situation is potentially worse now than during the Zia era, Kirmani said.

“Previously the government could close the auditorium, or arrest you, but now anyone sitting in the audience can decide ‘I am not going to allow this.’”