WHILE there are larger issues keeping the official machinery busy, there are ways to curb the disgusting business being run by fake healers. This is not a business that the government has to chase and investigate because it is run in broad daylight and right under the nose of the official machinery.

One can see graffiti, or should one say ‘marketing’, by these fraudsters on the walls across the land, informing us of the amazing powers of Kala Jadu, Bengali Baba, or some other Pir Sahib. Such dubious elements provide ‘services’ ranging from ‘attracting the beloved’ to ‘children for infertile couples’ and even ‘treating the untreatable’.

The audacity of such unscrupulous elements is evident from their cell phone numbers along with their marketing campaign on the walls. They carry out their shady business without any fear of attracting the attention of law-enforcement agencies in rental shops. Apparently, there is no dearth of naïve people among us who keep falling in the trap. But what about those whose job it is to eliminate the menace? Are they naïve or corrupt?

The relevant agencies must launch a crackdown against anti-social elements minting money and playing with the lives of innocent and unsuspecting people.

Ahlam Khan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2021