On Jan. 19, the Senate passed a bill amending the Pakistan Penal Code to introduce punishments of up to seven years’ imprisonment and fines of up to Rs. 1 million for practicing, promoting, advertising or providing services related to witchcraft and sorcery under the newly inserted Section 297A.
The law also targets acts “disguised” as spiritual healing and counselling, exempting only those services provided under a license issued by a competent authority.
At first glance, seeking to curb fraudulent claims and exploitation through spiritual charlatanism may seem benign but a deeper look makes clear this bill is a grave misdirection of legislative energy. There is no dearth of issues plaguing Pakistan’s citizens: economic destitution; record unemployment; hefty energy prices that cripple industry and livelihoods; a public health system strained to breaking point; rampant urban crime and violence; failing schools; environmental degradation and water scarcity; just to name a few. While failing to find the time to meaningfully address any of these issues, the incumbent Parliament’s passage of this bill suggests lawmakers feel witchcraft is the apex issue of our times.
Superstition is undeniably present in segments of Pakistani society. Such beliefs, however, flourish not because of their intrinsic danger but because of systemic failings: lack of education, poverty, social marginalization, and the vacuum left by absent or ineffective public services. In other words, people turn to fortune-tellers and healers because their governments have failed to offer credible alternatives. Criminalizing those who claim supernatural powers will do little to convince citizens to avoid seeking their aid and is far likelier to simply push such activity underground. Worst of all, it fosters the false impression that the state is doing “something” when it is in fact ignoring the real sources of suffering.
In passing this bill, the Senate has achieved little of measurable social benefit and merely played to the gallery. The legislature’s ultimate purpose is to improve the lives of citizens; it cannot achieve this by pursuing phantom problems. Focus must shift from criminalizing folklore to tackling hunger, poverty, unemployment, healthcare deficits, education shortfalls and infrastructural decay. Only then can lawmakers claim to be working for the real welfare of the people rather than fabricating problems and solutions that distract from the nation’s true needs.