Iqbal is also credited with introducing Suhail Ahmed (who was a stage comedian) to television viewers. Iqbal brought along with him the character of Azizi (expressed in his columns) to Hasb-e-Hal. The programme could be considered a practical expression of his thoughts, which he used to put down in writing in his weekly column (under the caption Hasb-e-Hal) for an Urdu daily.

Aftab Iqbal, the host of Khabarnaak, introduced a new concept of comedy-cum-satire to the electronic media when he began Hasb-e-Hal on a different private television channel in January 2009. In this age of competition, Khabarnaak radiates a message of success to other programmes of a similar nature and also to political talk shows through its practice of innovation and variety. The areas where political talk shows are wanting are innovation and variety. There is indeed an immense competition of survival amongst political talk shows.

Critics argue that the programme panders to the (psychological) needs mostly of the lower strata of society but the question is this: should that be taken as the programme’s weakness or strength? Why is the lower section of society not entitled to entertainment? What about the practice of inviting Sheikh Rasheed, a politician, to political talk shows to achieve the ratings target needed to keep the show viable for the television channel? The appearance of Sheikh Rasheed or Faisal Raza Abidi as solo flights may popularise that particular episode of the talk show commercially but not the rest of the episodes. If an anchorperson or a producer wants to know how to make a programme popular amongst the masses, watch Khabarnaak, a comedy-come-satire (late night) show on a private television channel.