LAST month, the upper house of parlia-ment passed a bill amending the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) to introduce Section 297-A, targeting the practice of black magic, sorcery and witchcraft.

Many countries, including the United States and India, have legislated to stop such voodoo or pseudoscience, but in vain. The evil and its practice have persisted since times immemorial. People, even the highly educated ones, still believe in the occult pseudoscience.

Magic is practised either to predict the future, or bring good or bad luck to someone. All such practices flourish, thanks to the Forer or Barnum Effect which explains the psychological phenomenon where individuals believe that generic, vague and broad personality descriptions apply uniquely to themselves, even though they could apply to almost anyone. This is what zodiac predictions are all about.

As the fable goes, Aristotle found a plate with a zodiac carved in gold. He could not make head or tail of it. So he sent it to Alexander far afield. He, too, was sceptical of its predictive value. He shrugged it off, but continued to roam naked around Ulysses in order to attract good fortune in his battles.

Similarly, Spartacus was advised in the Oracle of Delphi not to fight with the enemy as they outnumbered the Spartans such that their arrows would block sunshine from coming to earth if unleashed together. Spartacus took the prediction with a pinch of salt, replying: “I have fought many wars in scorching sunshine. Hurrah! Now I will fight one more battle under the cool shade.”

It is eerie that countless people, including psychologists, lawyers and writers, fall prey to luck-bringers and psychics. Our television channels and print media should promote science instead of pseudoscience.

Rewards should be given to children for participation in a modern science quiz on media rather than encouraging them to check their zodiac predictions.

Amjed Jaaved & Mohammad Saad Malik
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2026