VEHARI, Jan 6: Kaddu Pir has become a household sobriquet in this neck of the wood as the self-acclaimed spiritual healer “treats and operates upon” the ailing visitors to his place by “chopping off a pumpkin” much to the satisfaction of the people.

What astonishes many is the fact that the spiritual healer by the name of Haji Muhammad Khan has “managed to cure diseases like cancer, hepatitis-B and tuberculosis”. Sugar and ulcer patients, asthmatics and those suffering from other prolonged diseases keep thronging the place and hold the practitioner, with the professed knowledge of the occult, in high esteem.

There are reports that some people have ‘resuscitated’ from brain haemorrhage after seeking treatment from the Haji Saheb who has his residence-cum-office at Chak 108/WB on Khanewal Road, about thirty-seven kilometres from Vehari.

The Pir’s ‘dera’ spreads over two kanals and is divided into three portions — dispensary, waiting room for serious female patients, and a hall where he sits along with his patients who wait for their turn for checkup.

When this correspondent visited the place first, as many as 93 female patients suffering from various diseases and 54 men were sitting in the hall waiting for their turn. Sitting on a chair, the spiritual healer examined the patients one by one. The patients first collected their turn number from an elderly man at the gate of the outhouse. It cost them nothing. Then, the patients entered the veranda where sat the “hope of many an indisposed one”.

This correspondent reached the ‘dera’ with a patient of tonsils, a 12-year-old Fatima Bibi of Jahanian (Khanewal district) whom the doctors had advised operation to get rid of the problem. She got turn number 148 and waited for at least six hours before the ‘aamil’ called her for checkup and suggested some herbal and Unani medicines.

When asked about the operation, he said his murshid (spiritual mentor) had advised him to stop the Kaddu (marrow) operation and he was not doing so for the last six months. He said he was resorting to ‘dum’ and ‘dua’ besides prescribing herbal medicines. He said he had operated upon hundreds of patients through what he called marrow treatment.

“All this activity requires touching the patient’s body not once, said the Haji Saheb who advised the patient to visit him next Sunday after one week for further checkup.

“After checkup we purchased the medicines costing Rs370 from the herbal dispensary inside the outhouse”. Many people this correspondent talked to confirmed that the Pir Saheb had suspended the operations for the last few months.

During the visit this correspondent tried to capture some pictures of the various portions of the dera, but dispenser Bilal, who is the son of the Pir Saheb, stopped him from doing so. He even destroyed a camera reel.

“However, we managed to collect some pictures through mobile camera” escaping the eye of Bilal -– also the security in-charge of the outhouse and adjoining areas.

Kamran, a tea stall owner in the area, told Dawn that the Pir Saheb belonged to Gujjar family and a majority of residents of this chak, 108/WB, also had the same cast. He claimed that the Pir was his uncle, a 65-year-old who had been treating the patients for the last 30 years.

A brain haemorrhage patient, Surayya Bibi, in her 40s, was brought to the place by a Rajanpur DHQ hospital ambulance. She was unconscious and was admitted to the female-patient room. Her brother Amjad said he had brought her here after doctors at the DHQ and Nishter hospitals expressed disappointment.

The woman, he said, was in coma for the last two months and he had visited the place hoping against hope that his sister would survive.

A kidney patient, Muhammad Jamil of Tibba Sultanpur said he had been under treatment here for the last few days and was feeling better without having a dialysis. Previously, he had undergone dialysis on more than one occasion.

Muhammad Sagheer said he had been suffering from stomach cancer and after getting treatment from the spiritual practitioner, had seen significant recovery. Most of the visitors expressed full faith in the Haji Saheb and said they had recovered.

But then there is another side to the story. Allegations abound that the so-called spiritual healer had been fleecing the ever-growing number of his patients as every visitor filled the ‘chanda box’ (coffer) in the name of contributing to the development of the outhouse and public welfare.

A journalist hailing from Garahmore claimed that the coffer had been placed just inside the main gate of the outhouse. He said a few months back when some journalists visited the outhouse, two sons of Pir, Bilal and Ghulam Abbas, who were running the herbal dispensary, misbehaved with them and later banned entry of the journalists.

He claimed that after the incident, the Pir had stopped the Kaddu operation. He said Bilal had worked as reporter of a local daily before he took to the dispensary job. The newsman was more than sure that the practitioners used steroids in most of the herbal medicines prepared at the outhouse.

Many other people had reservations about the Pir’s business with some of them openly branding him as ‘fake pir’.

A sugar patient from Burewala, Ali Muhammad, a teacher by profession who is a regular at the outhouse, said many bureaucrats and army officers were among the followers of the Haji Saheb. Almost all the visitors to the clinic hailed from areas other than Garahmore.

The patients are examined four days in a week, that is, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. About 300 to 500 patients visit the ‘dera’ every day, most of them belonging to South Punjab districts.

When this reporter tried to probe electricity issue after seeing six meters installed on the wall of the residence in violation of rules, none of the Mepco officials came up with a clear-cut answer. However, the dispenser said the requirement of the place warranted the number of meters installed here.