SINDH is known as the land of great Sufi saints and their shrines, but under the cloak of these shrines there prevails a disgusting business. The caretakers of these shrines, who call themselves the so-called ‘faith healers’ and ‘spiritual guides’, or pirs in local parlance, are involved in the ruthless business of deceiving people under the guise of spirituality.

This business is surviving owing to rampant illiteracy and superstition. The caretakers at shrines run the business of providing relief to people against the influence of jins, ghosts and evil spirits. People widely believe in these supers-titions and approach these pirs to have their issues resolved. This is despite the fact that Islam is a complete religion and has given clear guidance to us in every field of life.

These so-called ‘spiritual’ leaders amass huge amount of money voluntarily offered — surrendered, actually — by their followers, and become super rich at the cost of those very followers who remain as poor and illiterate as their earlier generations had ever been. These fake healers employ their followers, known as murids, for their various tasks, which mostly remain unpaid. However, illiterate followers work for their religious leaders willingly and consider it an honour.

These leaders hold such influence over their followers that the former employs even the latter’s women at their homes.

The recent incident involving Fatima, a 10-year-old girl, who was found dead inside the mansion of an influential religious leader in Ranipur, is a horrible reminder of how wrong things can and do go. The unfortunate fact is that it actually goes that wrong for a lot of others. An even more unfortunate fact is that there is no sign on the horizon to indicate anything is going to change anytime soon in any meaningful way.

The land of Sindh, which once actually used to be the land of great Sufis, is now littered with fake religious personalities enjoying the outdated tradition of enslaving humans under the name of so-called spirituality.

Most such souls themselves have no moral and spiritual standing and are involved in crimes against humanity. Sindh, however, is not alone in its misery, as such brutality is practised in Punjab and other provinces, too.

The state has totally failed to eliminate this business of death and slavery. The gruesome murder of the girl must awaken illiterate people who have turned culprits into saints. We must remember that such incidents will not end unless the state prevails over such beasts roaming around as humans.

The murder of an innocent child demands justice. In Pakistan, getting justice has been an elusive dream for the masses.

Will the poor aggrieved family be able to get justice? This is a litmus test as much for the judiciary as it is for the state.

Zain ul Abdin Jessar
Larkana

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2023