Qadirpura police on Wednesday arrested a man on charges of abetting a pir in killing his father during ‘exorcism’.
Police also arrested Kasur Bibi, wife of Pir Abdul Majeed. Majeed, they said, had fled before the police raided his house.
Qadirpura SHO Rao Saleem said the post mortem report had arrived and it confirmed that Inayatullah had died following severe torture. He said the post mortem was carried out at a Basic Health Unit.
Muhammad Tariq, a Bakshishwala resident, told The Express Tribune that he had taken his father, Inayatullah, to Pir Abdul Majeed for him to be rid of evil spirits.
Tariq said he was a pupil of Pir Majeed himself. He said he had discussed his father’s condition with the pir. On Tuesday, he said, the pir agreed to help his father so he took him to his house. He said the pir ‘treated his father and kept him under examination throughout the day’. He said Inayatullah was recovering when he left pir’s house on Tuesday night to get some sleep However, he said, he could not sleep and at around 3am went back to the pir’s house . He said his father’s condition had deteriorated when he reached the pir’s house. He said his father passed away within minutes afterwards.
Tariq’s brother, Muhammad Iqbal, however, rejected the suggestion that his father was possessed by evil spirits. He said his father was absolutely fine.
He said Tariq had been misled by the pir into believing strange things. He said Inayatullah had never approved of Tariq’s association with the pir. In fact, he said, he frequently told him to stay away from Majeed. “Tariq used to respond by saying that evil spirits were making him say things against pir sahib,” he said.
Iqbal, who is the complainant in the FIR, said he would make sure the pir and Tariq could not get away with his father’s murder.
The SHO said the pir’s wife was arrested to pressure him into giving himself in to the police.
Besides, he said, the information obtained from her would be useful in tracking Majeed down. He said raiding teams had already been formed and expected that the pir would be behind bars very soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2011.
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