Pir processing: Toddler castrated to ‘free him from temptation’
Pir mutilates 2-year-old after the child’s mother vowed to make him a ‘malang’.
GUJRANWALA:
A two-year-old boy was castrated by a local pir on Sunday. According to police officials, the pir cut off the boy’s genitals to turn him into a malang.
SSP (Operations) Ahmed Aziz Nasir received reports on Sunday, that pir Haider Ali had castrated a toddler after the child’s mother promised to turn her child over to him to be ‘raised as a malang’.
Madu Lhalil resident Shehnaz Munir had been yearning for a child for several years and approached Haider Ali in this regard. “I had eight children and they all died one after the other. When I met Ali he told me I would have a son and that he would only live if he was a malang. I agreed,” she said. Shehnaz promised the pir that if she had a son she would give him to the pir to be raised as a malang. “I gave him of my own free will. I want him to be raised as a spiritual man and I trust Ali’s judgment.
I had a son because of his help so he has the right to do whatever he wants to raise the child as a future pir,” she told reporters.
Girjakh police arrested Ali from Jinnah road in Mohallah Mughalpura for castrating Sabir Ali and recovered the boy.
Ali said that he had received the boy two years ago but told Shehnaz to bring him back when he had been weaned and she brought Sabir to him on August 11. “I castrated him on August 14 because that is Pakistan’s Independence Day. I figured it was the best time to free this child from the cares of the world and all the corruption in it. Now he is pure,” he told reporters.
“The pir has a track record of rape and was known for living in a brothel with a group of eunuchs,” said a police official.
“He now says that he has seen the light and that he only fornicated with eunuchs because they were ‘pure’. That is why he castrated the child,” said a visitor at Ali’s shrine.
“Ali is a very spiritual man. He has devoted his powers to helping barren women conceive and to prayer,” said Ali’s apprentice Mauj.
“The boy was promised to us and was to live at the shrine but the police have taken him away. What does the police know of magic and spirituality?” he said.
Inter-religions peace committee chairman Qari Zahid Nadeem said that the castration was against Shariah and that Ali ought to be punished. “Islam mandates an eye for an eye and a nose for a nose. This pir should be castrated in public to pay for his crime,” he said.
Police have registered a case against the accused and taken Ali into custody. A case has also been registered against Shehnaz and Sabir Ali has been sent to the Child Protection Bureau.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2011.
A two-year-old boy was castrated by a local pir on Sunday. According to police officials, the pir cut off the boy’s genitals to turn him into a malang.
SSP (Operations) Ahmed Aziz Nasir received reports on Sunday, that pir Haider Ali had castrated a toddler after the child’s mother promised to turn her child over to him to be ‘raised as a malang’.
Madu Lhalil resident Shehnaz Munir had been yearning for a child for several years and approached Haider Ali in this regard. “I had eight children and they all died one after the other. When I met Ali he told me I would have a son and that he would only live if he was a malang. I agreed,” she said. Shehnaz promised the pir that if she had a son she would give him to the pir to be raised as a malang. “I gave him of my own free will. I want him to be raised as a spiritual man and I trust Ali’s judgment.
I had a son because of his help so he has the right to do whatever he wants to raise the child as a future pir,” she told reporters.
Girjakh police arrested Ali from Jinnah road in Mohallah Mughalpura for castrating Sabir Ali and recovered the boy.
Ali said that he had received the boy two years ago but told Shehnaz to bring him back when he had been weaned and she brought Sabir to him on August 11. “I castrated him on August 14 because that is Pakistan’s Independence Day. I figured it was the best time to free this child from the cares of the world and all the corruption in it. Now he is pure,” he told reporters.
“The pir has a track record of rape and was known for living in a brothel with a group of eunuchs,” said a police official.
“He now says that he has seen the light and that he only fornicated with eunuchs because they were ‘pure’. That is why he castrated the child,” said a visitor at Ali’s shrine.
“Ali is a very spiritual man. He has devoted his powers to helping barren women conceive and to prayer,” said Ali’s apprentice Mauj.
“The boy was promised to us and was to live at the shrine but the police have taken him away. What does the police know of magic and spirituality?” he said.
Inter-religions peace committee chairman Qari Zahid Nadeem said that the castration was against Shariah and that Ali ought to be punished. “Islam mandates an eye for an eye and a nose for a nose. This pir should be castrated in public to pay for his crime,” he said.
Police have registered a case against the accused and taken Ali into custody. A case has also been registered against Shehnaz and Sabir Ali has been sent to the Child Protection Bureau.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2011.