Hunting demons

A local cleric had burned the feet of an 11-year-old child in an attempt to exorcise “her demons”.

There is a pervasive primitivism that is widespread, namely a belief in daemonic possession that can only be cured by exorcism. Those who become the victims of the exorcists are often suffering from a mental illness or epileptic. Exorcism can take many forms but is frequently violent, with the victims being severely beaten.

On April 8, there was a particularly horrific incident involving an 11-year-old girl living in Cheechawatni, Sahiwal. The girl had reportedly been ill and been running a high temperature for a week. She was delirious and possibly suffering from typhoid, and unsurprisingly she was “uttering nonsense”. A neighbour of the child’s father suggested that she was possessed by demons and that she be exorcised to rid her of them — at which point the girl was handed to a man who was more a demon than whatever was ailing the child.

A local cleric, said to be famous for his healing powers, beat the child then poured kerosene over her feet and set fire to them. He later said that he set fire to her feet because setting fire to her head — his first inclination — would have killed her. The child is in a critical condition in hospital and will probably never walk again. This is far from being an isolated incident, but it is not possible to even estimate how many die or are badly injured at the hands of exorcists every year. The victims come from all strata of society, rich and poor alike.

Sometimes, it is possible to argue that those committing crimes such as this do so out of ignorance, but the educated are no less prone to prescribing exorcism than the uneducated. The beliefs that underpin such acts are deeply embedded and extremely hard to dislodge and they are not exclusive to Pakistan — this is a global phenomenon and present in the developed world. A child now lies in pain, crippled by ignorance, and the real tragedy of the matter is that this alone will not serve as a lesson. What is needed is more awareness so people no longer suffer in such a manner.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2014.

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