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. ------ Sufi of Ranipur Pir Asad Shah Jilani ----- 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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism