Who Killed Mohammad Bashir? Jinns or Jahalat?

Adil Najam

Everytime I use the word ‘Jahalat’ I seem to invite the wrath of the self-righteous. But do tell me what other word can be used to describe this news story below?

It may seem innocuous when someone half-buries a child in the sand to seek a cure for paralysis from a solar eclipse, but quite another when superstition and misinformation blocks the way for polio vaccination. But what can one say when a life is taken willfully and deliberately?

Back in 2006 we had written about how jahalat murdered 22-year old Shagufta who was axed to death and later burnt by her family, now Mohammad Bashir Kacha, a 70 year old resident of Rahim Yar Khan is dead.

Tell us who the culprit is: Jinn or jahalat?

Here is the full story, as published in The Express Tribune:

RAHIM YAR KHAN: In the Sadiqabad tehsil, a fake peer attempted an exorcism on an old man which led to his death.

In mohallah Jalandharyhan, a 70-year-old man Mohammad Bashir Kacha had been suffering from asthma for several years. According to Dr Shah Nazir at Seikh Zayed Hospital Rahim Yar Khan, it was also likely that Kacha also suffered from epilepsy and experienced fits of rage. “Locals and neighbours are likely to term such afflictions as a man being possessed when there is a medical explanation for the condition,” he said. Kacha’s sons took him to a pir from Arain Colony for treatment. “He was getting worse and we thought that we needed to do something as soon as possible so we took him to Bukhari,” his 22-year-old son Amjad said. Amjad said that one of his neighbours had recommended that he take his father to Syed Qalandar Abbas Shah Bukhari who usually performed exorcisms and used different herbs for ‘spiritual treatment’.

Kacha was taken to Bukhari who took him into a side room, where he burnt some herbs and tried to get Kacha to inhale the smoke. When the smoke began to agitate Kacha, Bukari began to slap him. “The three djinns were not cooperating and they weren’t reacting to my treatment so I tried to beat them out of him,” Bukhari said, adding that he had deduced that Kacha had been possessed for a very long time. As the pir was hitting Kacha, his sons broke into the room and began hurling shoes at Bukhari. “He was striking blows at our father who is an old man,” Amjad and his brother said, adding that they immediately took their father to the hospital as he had collapsed after the incident. Dr Nazir said that the patient suffered from asthma and the smoke had severely affected him, “The beating only made things worse and the next day, July 10, he died.”

Kacha’s sons refused to file an FIR against Qalandar and have said that they forgive the pir. A neighbor, Hassan said that Kacha’s sons were afraid of the consequences of punishing the pir or having him arrested. “They know that he could easily have one of his djinns haunt them and that is why they are avoiding prosecuting him,” he said. Qalandar said that he regretted the death of the old man and has said that the reason for the death was that his sons weren’t able to afford the ‘payment’ the djinns required to leave the man alone.

“They asked for three goats and when the sons couldn’t afford that, they were willing to settle for three goats heads but the boys didn’t even bring those in. That is why he died,” Qalandar said, adding that he had “tried his best to negotiate with the djinns but they were unwilling to compromise.”