A woman was seriously burnt when her parents set fire to a necklace while she was wearing it on the advice of a pir “to cure her fits”, police said on Thursday. She was taken to Nishtar Hospital, where she was reported to be in critical condition.
Police said Jatti Mai, a resident of Labbar and a mother of five, had suffered from fits. On Thursday, her parents took her to a pir, who told them to set fire to a garland of herbs that he had made her wear. He told her parents that, her illness would disappear with its smoke.
Once home, police said, Jatti Mai’s parents set fire to the necklace. As the necklace burned, her clothes, too, caught fire.
She was taken to Nishtar Hospital, where doctors treating her said that she was in critical condition.
Muzaffargarh area police said her parents were being questioned. They said they were also looking for the pir.
Woman tortured by pir suffers brain haemorrhage
In Sargodha, a woman was taken to a hospital after she suffered brain haemorrhage after being subjected to torture by a pir, police said. The hospital administration referred her to Lahore.
Police said Sobia Bibi was handed over to a pir by her in-laws who said that she was possessed.
Police said the pir had been subjecting her to torture nine days.
On Thursday, police said, he informed his in-laws that she could be taken home.
When they went to pick her, they discovered that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She was taken to the DHQ Hospital, from where she was sent to Lahore.
Police said they had not received a complaint.
Sobia Bibi had given birth to her second child a few weeks ago.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2013.