



A pir allegedly raped a teenage girl to cure her of repeated migraines.





According to police officials, Khurarianwala resident Allah Wasaya said that his 14-year-old daughter Khatoon was repeatedly raped by a local pir on the pretext of curing her head aches. Khatoon got pregnant and Allah Wasaya has asked police officials to file a case.“She was suffering from terrible headaches and I took her to several doctors and hakeem’s but no one was able to help her,” Wasaya said. “I heard about this pir who gave very effective taveez and was a powerful magician,” he told police officials.Wasaya then contacted Mehmood Qasim, who offered taveez for different ailments.“Qasim told us that she was possessed by a jinn and said that he had a taveez that could help her,” Wasaya told police. “He told us that the jinn was very powerful and it would take several sessions for him to cure her,” he added.“I recommended Qasim’s services and I still maintain that he is a great man,” said Wasaya’s neighbour Akram. “The girl was probably having an affair and is trying to blame him,” he said.Wasaya said that during Khatoon’s treatment, Qasim developed illicit relations with his daughter.“He raped her repeatedly and told her that if she told anyone then he would release the jinn’s in his power on her,” Wasaya said. “My daughter is now pregnant and everyone in the neighbourhood knows of my shame,” he said.Khatoon told police officials that Qasim had threatened to cast a spell on her if she told anyone what happened. “He used to send everyone away demanding that the ritual required us to be alone.He said that if anyone else stayed the jinn would possess them as well,” she told police.Khatoon said that a couple of weeks ago she experienced abdominal pain and went to the doctor. “She told me that I was four months pregnant and now Qasim has run away,” she said. “I want this man arrested because he raped my daughter and now he has ruined her life,” Wasaya said. Khurarianwala police has registered a case on the complaint of Allah Wasaya under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code and started a search for the arrest of the accused.“These claims are all false. Qasim has cured hundreds of people of their illnesses and he has many loyal followers. Wasaya and his daughter are ungrateful and rather than thanking him for curing the girl of her disease they are blaming him,” said Qasim’s apprentice Kashif Boota. “The girl probably had an affair and got her self pregnant. Now she is trying to blame an honest man who helps cure dozens of people,” he added.Name of the victim has been changed to protect her identityPublished in The Express Tribune, October 17, 2011.