Cleric accused of torturing 11-year-old for not memorising lesson

Qari accused of punching the boy in his stomach and face breaking several teeth, then hitting him with a steel rod

MULTAN: The parents of an 11-year-old boy accused a seminary cleric of severely torturing their son for not memorising a lesson in Vehari district of Punjab.

Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah Bukhari, a resident of Ludan, told reporters, on Tuesday, that his son Muhammad Bilal is enrolled at Faizan-e-Madina madrassa where teacher Qari Muhammad Fiaz beat him up severely.

According to Bukhari, Bilal had not memorised a lesson so Fiaz, the cleric, got angry and punched the 11-year-old in his stomach and face breaking several teeth. Fiaz then also used a steel rod to beat Bilal before shaving his head, said the father.



He added that one of Bilal’s classmates informed him that he was bleeding.

“I immediately rushed to the seminary and found him unconscious so I took him to a hospital,” said Bukhari.

Bilal said Qari Fiaz routinely tortured students at the seminary and also shaved their hair off.

The boy’s parents demanded Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif take notice of the matter and initiate legal proceedings against the cleric.

When contacted, Fiaz told The Express Tribune that he did shave of students’ hair because of the summer heat, but denied that he had tortured Bilal.