So-Called Sufi of Ranipur, Pakistan Rapes 9-Year-Old Girl and Leaves Her to Die
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
28 August
2023
Earlier
Two Judges of Pakistan Tortured Minor Girls Working as Domestic Help.
Main
Points:
1. Peer of Ranipur Syed Asad Shah inflicted
genital and anal trauma on the girl.
2. He slept after raping her and left
her on the ground bleeding and writhing in pain.
3. The girl died of the wounds.
4. He was arrested and has denied the
allegation.
5. Earlier judge Khurram Ali and his
wife were convicted for torturing their minor domestic help.
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Sufi of Ranipur Pir Asad Shah Jilani
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Sexual
crimes against minors are not uncommon in the Indian sub-continent. Criminals
and sexual perverts commit such crimes in most of the cases. But these crimes
mirror the collective mindset of a community when the perpetrators of such
crimes are religious and respected persons of the society. A few years ago, an
8-year-old girl of Kathua in Jammu of India was raped brutally by a priest and
his aides. Instead of condemning the rapists and demanding exemplary punishment
for them, people of the area brought out a rally in his favour. Now a similar
incident of the rape of a 9-year-old girl in the Sindh province of Pakistan
sends shivers down the spine. A Sufi, Asad Shah Jilani belonging to the family
of the Peers of Ranipur has been arrested for raping her in his house and
leaving her to die on the floor while he slept on his bed wrapped in a blanket,
He inflicted genital and anal trauma on the girl and beat her for apparently
resisting.
The police
sprung into action when the CCTV footage went viral on social media and
arrested the Sufi and his wife Syeda Hena Shah. Hena Shah got bail.
The victim,
Fatima Phuriro was working in his haveli for quite some time and she was
tortured regularly by him and his wife. Her parents were his disciples (Mureed)
and had handed her over to the sufi as a mark of devotion.
Asad Shah's
wife Hena Shah found her dead in the morning and woke up her husband. They
called Fatima's father saying she had died of stomach pain and threatened him
not to tell the police about the incident. Her father buried her silently in
the graveyard.
But when
the CCTV footage went viral, the police came into action and exhumed the body.
The body of Fatima was sent for post mortem. The post mortem report revealed
the following facts:
a) Bluish
red mark on the right side of her head.
b) Six cm
bruise on the upper chest.
c) 3
bruises on the lower back.
d)40 cm
bruise on the left arm.
e) Her body
was rotting because of lack of treatment of older wounds.
They did
not provide treatment for her wounds resulting from beating and torture.
Asad Shah
Jilani has thousands of followers and disciples. Moreover, 4 or 5 members of
his family and relatives are members of parliament and assemblies. Therefore,
he has political and religious clout in the area. So a section of the people
think that he may get bail or even get the case withdrawn by pressurising the
parents or by virtue of the rule of compensation under Pakistan's law. Under
this law, the culprit pays the heirs of the deceased a big amount of money and
the victim's heir or guardian withdraws the case saying in the court "I
forgive him in the name of God."Therefore, an innocent victim's killer is
saved all in the name of God. Pakistan's powerful people get away with the
murder of innocent and economically weak people with the help of this law.
The
practice of Sufism under which Sufis have thousands or lakhs of disciples helps
Sufis like Asad Shah garner votes for his relatives in elections. In return
they provide him protection for his crimes. Fatima's mother has alleged that
her two other daughters are in his custody illegally.
This is not
the only incident of brutal torture of a minor domestic help by high profile personalities
in Pakistan. Last month, a 12-year-old girl Rizwana was hospitalised in a
serious condition. She worked in civil judge Asim Hafeez's house as a domestic
help. His wife Sonia Asim used to beat her regularly and would not provide
treatment for her wounds and injuries. When the story of her torture came to
light, she was hospitalised in Sargodha. She had 15 injuries on her body
including her head. She told the police that Sonia would beat her on a daily
basis and left her hungry. She would also lock her in a room. She was shifted
to Lahore General Hospital and undergoing plastic surgery in the ICU. Sonia
Asim was arrested and her bail plea was rejected. Her husband, a civil judge
was an accomplice in the crime as he did not prevent his wife from torturing
Rizwana and did not provide her treatment. How can a civil judge be so
merciless and heartless to allow a helpless and defenceless innocent girl who
had been serving them. She was not paid for six months whereas judges in
Pakistan get very high salaries apart from perks and facilities.
In 2016,
another sessions judge Khurram Ali and his wife Maheen Zafar were convicted of
torturing a 10-year-old girl Tayyeba. First, they managed to get the cases
withdrawn by paying her parents compensation but the chief justice took suo
moto action and ordered the police to initiate action. They were sentenced for
three years imprisonment but in 2018, the Supreme Court cut the punishment
short to one year and they were released. Some banana republic!!
The three
incidents are related to child torture and rape and the culprits in all the
three cases are respected and highly educated persons of the society. This
speaks volumes about the moral and ethical bankruptcy of the general Pakistani
society. How can a Sufi sexually torture a 9-year-old girl and go to sleep
without any remorse leaving the victim bleeding and writhing in pain on the
bare floor for the whole night? Was he a sexual beast devoid of any human
feeling? Can we take these incidents as only exceptions? Definitely not.
According to International Labour Organisation, one in every four households in
Pakistan employs a child as a domestic help. In Pakistan, 3.3 million children
are child labours. 2.5 crore children are out of school. So, imagine what kind
of torture and sexual trauma they might be going through in the houses of
feudal lords, judges, engineers and peers like Asad Shah. Their story does not
come out because not all the cases of torture and rape go viral.
The media
of Pakistan ha not discussed the crime of Asad Shah because he has political
connections. His cousin Syed Fazal Shah is the Member of Parliament. Political
leaders of Sindh give protection such peers for political gains.
The poverty
and unemployment together with superstition and illiteracy among the masses
help these peers exploit them. In Pakistan, multiple marriages are common and
clerics like Tarique Masood promote and encourage it. As a result, many
families have ten, fifteen twenty children, mostly girls. Since the parents
can't afford to feed them, they send them to work as domestic helps in the
houses of peers or judges or landlords where they fall prey to the satanic and
beastly instincts. They do not have mercy on the innocent children and inflict
physical and sexual torture on them, sometimes causing death.
The minor
children of Pakistan have to undergo the torture and exploitation because
Pakistan does not have effective laws to protect children. The legislature of
Pakistan should bring laws to protect children like Inda has. It should form
organisations to monitor and survey the households where children work.
Children should not be allowed to work in the first place. UNICEF should
intervene and ensure that no child, particularly girl child becomes a victim of
peers, judges, landlords and general people.
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/sufi-ranipur-pakistan-rapes-girl/d/130539
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