Daily Times

The scenes following the
spectacle of the guard of honour presented to President Asif Ali Zardari, interestingly, also had another encore that may be described as the pomp and pageant of his pir’s (holy man’s) performance for his protection. Whirling his rosary, the pir almost frantically pirouetted about his car, mumbling and blowing incantations over it, the surrounding space and the path ahead, in an apparent assertion to spread an invisible spiritual shield against any likely harm, evil, injury or machination against him. The exquisite design of Zardari’s bulletproof vehicle, the explicit and secret security escorts with the latest gizmos evidently were not considered adequate for his protection but had to be buttressed with the force of belief in the power of the pir to pierce and prevent the pernicious animus.

The scene may have seemed rather bizarre to most sane and sceptical viewers but it certainly was not unusual in a society surfeit with superstition and the supremacy of the spiritual and metaphysical powers and phenomena over the principles and the processes established in the material world. The elite and the affluent like Zardari, in fact, prefer to reinforce the physical means of cure and protection with the slew of spiritual armour while the non-affording plebs have to be content merely with the relatively more accessible versions vended by the holy healers and performers claiming to manage the celestial will to eviscerate trouble and ailments.

The belief and practice to rely on such pirs, healers and kindred claimants to alter the normal course of events has actually spawned fantastic business devices like amulets, water and edibles infused with special sacred incantations. The healer recites some sacred phrases and then blows over the substance to be used by the person seeking this intervention. The intonations sometimes are blown over a garment such as a scarf to be worn by the affectee and a knot symbolising the healing content encapsulated therein is tied at several spots in it. Besides delivering such tokens, the trusted saint also assures the seeker that he would engage in special intensive prayers and invocations for a specific period that in some cases could extend to 40 days or a chilla. The practice involves relief from some common ailments like headache or fever to most pernicious and malignant afflictions like hepatitis, cancer and cardiac complications, arthritis and even genetic deformities.

The practice of spiritual healing actually has been a sprawling realm that for most segments of our society runs almost parallel to the medicinal and therapeutic world despite its innovative and miraculous wonders. Even snakebite victims, in many of our communities, are routinely taken to pirs rather than to hospitals for vaccination (which any way is seldom found there). In some sectors like the treatment of psychological disorders, drug addiction, depression, hallucinations and effects of various toxins and psychosomatic substances, it even tends to beat the medicinal intervention. Such afflictions in most societies were taken as an influence or possession of the patients by vicious evil spirits or djinns and spawned the dreaded practice of exorcism. The monstrous means and the torture inflicted on the victims in an overt bid to rid them of the perceived influence have been explicitly found in the related literature and rendered into scores of famous movies. Some disturbing details about an analogous ruthless regimen conducted by our pirs and savants often also keep surfacing in our media.

Besides the curative customs, revealing and rerouting the predetermined events has been thought to be a common preserve of the people who were believed to be privy to and mouthpiece of the celestial forces since the days of Greek oracular rites. Delphi’s oracle, for instance, was believed to reveal the will and words of Apollo and was routinely consulted for almost all important undertakings including the orchestration of interstate relations and policies. Yet it is equally known for its vagueness, confusion, contradictions and incorrect prophecies like those about King Croesus, batlle of Salamis and the war against Persia.The waning trust in divination ultimately led to its end and insignificance. The fate of Egyptian, similar other oracles and the shamanic traditions proved to be no different. History, similarly, also records how most of the great rulers and commanders employed elaborate ensembles of astrologers and soothsayers to determine the most propitious timings and strategies for their campaigns and adventures. Yet one side invariably had to submit or surrender in every fight, proving the futility of its saints and soothsayers to intercede with the supernatural forces to actuate a victorious finale.

Zardari, similarly, despite the blessings and propitiations by his pir, has also endured several sufferings and setbacks. The spate of allegations, incriminations and an inordinately extended incarceration evidently could not be averted by them. Nor could they preclude his relentless pursuit by the superior judiciary that portrayed him as the only embodiment and perpetrator of the entire illegalities in Pakistan. His accountability was touted to be an essential prerequisite to purge corruption and create a paradise in Pakistan. Equally ineffective, they were against the terrorist bouts that almost entirely thwarted his party’s election campaign and are now almost bound to hamper his contact with the masses. Instructive equally has been the tragic saga of his wife, who according to some media reports also used to visit a pir who was purported to hold the key to premiership. The contender whom the pir condescended to hit with his sceptre was thought to be the future premier. Yet the pir and his occult forces could neither predict nor prevent the feral assault that ended her life.

But notwithstanding such incontrovertible evidence and realities to contradict the power and pranks of the pirs and erosion of such punk primitive ideas with the spread of knowledge, Zardari has his privilege and the discretion to sport these ideas, rites or superstitions. He, however, also happens to be the heir to the party that millions of people feel must promote a progressive, liberal, logical and futuristic vision and policies. Most liberal, logical and rational enthusiasts unfortunately, actually are forced to go with it as there is no other organised party permeated with their views. Zadari and and his associates certainly know it and reciprocating their trust, they must form a bulwark against fundamentalism, primitivism, superstition and occult practices. An ostentatatious public display of relying on pirs evidently is utterly incompatible with the public image of a party like the PPP. The course of events and policies in the present world are shaped not by pirs but by the prescience, proficiency and vision in the relevant fields. So Zardari, accordingly, must care for his public image and avoid making an ostentatious display of his pir’s rounds and rosaries.

The writer is an academic and freelance columnist and can be reached at habibpbu@yahoo.com