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Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
As Pakistan moves to ban black magic, astrologers see a bad omen
The curtain glows under ceiling lights, and a soft cream-colored screen guards the privacy of clients who slip inside. On a glass panel by the door, bold white letters offer quiet assurance: Shahbaz, Astrologer & Palmist. Shahbaz Anjum has worked in Shop 2-A inside the Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore, Pakistan, for 24 years. He does not advertise. Yet rich and poor, believer and skeptic, come to him for luck, direction, a glimpse behind the veil. "I help people," Anjum said. "That's all. I don't claim to heal, and I certainly don't do black magic ." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Average Cost To Rent A Private Jet May Surprise You (View Prices) Private Jet I Search Ads Learn More Undo He felt compelled to make that distinction as the Pakistani government moves to crack down on occult practices that lawmakers call a threat to the country's social fabric. A bill approved by the country's Senate in March would impose prison terms of up to seven years and thousands of dollars in fines on people who provide a vaguely defined set of supernatural services. Live Events Spiritual practitioners worry that a range of esoteric practices will be targeted in this deeply religious and culturally conservative country. They point to the inherent difficulty and danger in policing belief, and say that the legislation risks conflating spirituality and superstition with con artistry and criminality. Supporters say the legislation is needed to combat fraud. The bill speaks in moralistic terms about protecting families from "sorcery" and "ignorant malpractices" carried out in the name of spiritual healing. The bill, which now moves to the lower house of parliament, would require spiritual practitioners to register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which would decide which activities are outlawed. Aiysha Mirza, a Lahore-based spiritual healer who blends tarot cards, birth charts and hypnotherapy in her practice, said that the ministry "cannot understand what I do." "The government needs to broaden its perspective," she said. "What we really need is a new Religion and Metaphysical Authority." Mirza fears that the legislation would fall hardest on those who are visible and aim to be law-abiding -- not those operating in secret or inflicting indisputable mental, physical or financial harm. "Real black magic," she said, "is something entirely different. Those people never show their faces." Pakistan is no stranger to spiritual contradiction. A nuclear-armed state with a highly wired population, it is also a place where political leaders consult holy men before taking office and where television anchors read horoscopes on prime-time news shows. Everyday believers -- many of them highly educated -- seek solace in a mix of religion, ritual and metaphysics, even as orthodox Islamic scholars have long declared astrology, palmistry and fortunetelling incompatible with faith. Shabana Ali, a tarot reader who has a steady following among professionals in Islamabad, the capital, said she had no intention of registering with the government. "I'm not interested in being judged by clerics who think in binaries -- haram and halal, real and fake," she said. In legislating belief, Ali said, "you're not just regulating fraud. You're deciding what kind of spirituality is allowed." The bill's backers say spiritual fraud is so rampant that something must be done. "There are advertisements in newspapers, there's wall chalking in many cities -- people promoting Bengali magic, fake pirs, people offering love spells," said Faisal Saleem, chair of the Senate's Interior Committee, referring to fake holy men. "It has to stop," he added. Others, like Syed Ali Zanjani, whose family runs a spiritual center in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, believe that the legislation's intent may be right -- but that care must be taken in putting it into practice. Zanjani receives clients at a large house opposite a stretch of military residences and a golf course. An assistant greets visitors in the main hall and offers tea as they wait. His family has been in the spiritual trade since 1945, holding public prediction sessions and advising a cross-section of society, including politicians, generals and businessmen. "This field has been abused by frauds," Zanjani said. "If someone wants to clean that up, it's a good thing." But he is wary of how the law might be applied. "You have to define whether astrology is science or a spiritual subject," he said. "You can't punish what you can't explain." There have been attempts to regulate the occult across the region. In Saudi Arabia, the religious police have pursued people accused of sorcery, in some cases leading to their execution. But rights groups warn that laws targeting spiritual practices -- often vague by design -- can be weaponized. At the Pearl Continental in Lahore, where Anjum works with a magnifying glass and a birth chart opened on a laptop, he describes his work not as mysticism, but as "mere calculations." Zanjani, however, believes such skills cannot be distilled into equations. "Our work," he said, "falls under spirituality, rooted in a long tradition of Islamic mysticism." Between those two -- the astrologer who believes in reason, and the spiritualist who believes in tradition -- lies a country that must now decide how far it wants to go in policing the unseen. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pakistan power players keep Imran jailed, shrink political space
File photo: Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan (Photo: ANI) ISLAMABAD: The fate of incarcerated former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan , languishing in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail for nearly two years, seems more precarious than ever following a deadly clash with India, shifting international priorities, and a domestic power nexus bent on keeping him confined. Khan's detention, which began in Aug 2023 following his conviction in a graft case, has been widely described as a calculated move by Pakistan's powerful military establishment and its civilian allies. Observers argue that the troika of Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Sharif brothers of the governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) view Khan's release as an existential threat to their grip on power. The military's centrality in managing the crisis during recent escalations of tensions with India has emboldened an already-unpopular coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and complicated the prospects of Khan's release. Analysts argue that external conflict often bolsters the establishment's narrative of national unity, stifling dissent. 'In times of external conflict, the (military) establishment rallies public support and tightens its control over dissent,' said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based political commentator. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Вот как снять боль в суставах в домашних условиях! Здоровые Суставы Undo Internal optimism of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party about his release seems increasingly delusional. While public statements from some party leaders forecast his imminent return, reports suggest that several have quietly forged ties with the military. A senior PTI figure, requesting anonymity, bluntly described them as 'either naive or complicit' in managing expectations among the party's base. Khan's refusal to cut a deal -- unlike Nawaz Sharif's 2019 exile or Zardari's well-known compromises -- has positioned him as a prisoner of principle, but also rendered him politically isolated. International factors, once seen as a potential lifeline for Khan, have also faded. Ahead of the US presidential election in November 2024, some PTI supporters speculated that a Donald Trump victory could pressure Pakistan's leadership to release Khan, citing concerns over controversial February 2024 elections, human rights abuses, and mass incarceration of PTI workers. However, recent developments have upended these expectations. Pakistan's military and civilian leadership have worked diligently to mend ties with Washington, exemplified by the arrest and extradition of Sharifullah, a high-value militant wanted by the US. Trump's public praise for Pakistan's cooperation signalled a thaw in relations, further solidified by lobbying efforts and backchannel diplomacy between Pakistani authorities and Trump's transition team. The domestic legal landscape offers little respite. Khan faces over 150 cases, many of which legal experts describe as politically motivated. The postponement of the land scam hearing against Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in Islamabad high court last Wednesday underscores the judiciary's reluctance, or inability, to challenge the establishment's agenda. While PTI decries judicial bias, the government insists that Khan's cases are rooted in evidence of corruption and misuse of power. 'The law is taking its course,' said Information Minister Attaullah Tarar in a recent press conference, dismissing PTI's protests as 'political theatre'. For Khan's supporters, the former cricket legend remains a symbol of resistance against a hybrid regime that blends military dominance with civilian acquiescence. Yet, the PTI's ability to sustain momentum is waning. The party's leadership is fractured, with many senior figures either in jail, in hiding, or abroad. The government's crackdown on PTI's social media networks and public gatherings has further curtailed its outreach.
New Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Spy case: Punjab YouTuber's remand extended by two days, police find 150 Pakistani numbers in his contact list
CHANDIGARH: A court in Mohali extended the police remand of Punjab YouTuber Jasbir Singh by two days. Singh was arrested on June 4 on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI. Police said they found around 150 suspicious Pakistani numbers on Singh's contact list in his mobile phone. Singh was produced before the local court in Mohali on Saturday after his three-day police remand ended. The state police sought a seven-day remand but the court granted them two more days of custody, said Singh's counsel. A senior police official said Singh had met the Lahore-based Nasir Dhillon on three trips to Pakistan after they connected as fellow vloggers. Police are investigating the role of Dhillon and his potential links to Pakistani intelligence. He reportedly helped facilitate Singh's visa and visits. Police officials suspect that Singh might have deleted sensitive data from his mobile phone before his arrest. A forensic examination of the device is underway to recover any communications with Pakistani handlers. Singh's ties with other suspected operatives Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra and Shakir 'Jutt Randhawa', a Pakistani intelligence officer, are also being investigated.
Gulf Today
06-06-2025
- Climate
- Gulf Today
School's out: climate change keeps Pakistan students home
Pakistan's children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules. Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems. In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early. "The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln," said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school. Students attend classes at a rural area, on the outskirts of Sukkur, Sindh on May 27, 2025. "I don't even want to come to school." Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty. "Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time," said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil. "The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected." Pakistan's summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department. "During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk," 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told the media. Pakistan's education activist Baela Raza Jamil speaks during an interview with AFP at her office in Lahore. "A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat." Health versus learning Around a third of Pakistani school-age children -- over 26 million -- are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. And 65 per cent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10. School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country's most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance. Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat. Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days. In Balochistan, Pakistan's poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed. A schoolgirl drinks water after her classes, on a hot summer day in Lahore. For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind. In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents. "It's hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather," private school principal Sadiq Hussain told the media in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 per cent in May. "Their physical and mental health is being affected," added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association. "Don't expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years." 'Everyone is suffering' Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope. Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat. Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes. Students attend an assembly at a school, at Jacobabad, Sindh. Photos: AFP "Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn't be centralised," she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year. Adapting school buildings is also crucial. International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country's 250,000 schools need help. Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold. But in Pakistan's most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices. In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 damaged or destroyed by unprecedented 2022 floods. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements. "Our children are worried, and we are deeply concerned," said parent Ali Gohar Gandhu, a daily wage labourer. "Everyone is suffering." Agence France-Presse
France 24
06-06-2025
- Climate
- France 24
School's out: climate change keeps Pakistan students home
Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems. In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early. "The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln," said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school. "I don't even want to come to school." Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty. "Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time," said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil. "The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected." Pakistan's summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department. "During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk," 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP. "A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat." Health versus learning Around a third of Pakistani school-age children -- over 26 million -- are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10. School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country's most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance. Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat. Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days. In Balochistan, Pakistan's poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed. For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind. In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents. "It's hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather," private school principal Sadiq Hussain told AFP in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 percent in May. "Their physical and mental health is being affected," added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association. "Don't expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years." 'Everyone is suffering' Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope. Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat. Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes. "Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn't be centralised," she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year. Adapting school buildings is also crucial. International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country's 250,000 schools need help. Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold. But in Pakistan's most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices. In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 damaged or destroyed by unprecedented 2022 floods. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements.
