In late June 2019, Zahoor Ahmed from Bilal Town Abbotabad fell victim to Qari Ilyas’ radical methodology practiced at his madrassah, Idarah Tark e Masnhiyat Rohani Ilaj in Haripur, Badihana.
Suffering from depression and struggling with drug abuse, Zahoor’s family admitted him to the institution for help with recovery little more than two months prior to recovering his beaten and bruised body from the so-called place of healing.
The full autopsy report disclosed signs of a broken jaw, neck, spine, and limbs, among many other bruises; injuries allegedly inflicted onto the victim by the Qari, who claims it was an accidental death.
Waqar Baksh, a former childhood friend, expressed his grievances over the unjust tragedy on social media and recounted his version of the story.
“Zahoor was the most beautiful soul I ever met,” said Waqar.
“It appears that such purity of a soul comes at a price, because like many others, Zahoor too had demons to fight. He tried to quit his drug habit on his own many times, relapsing on almost every attempt. It was then that his family decided he be admitted to this controversial religious institute, where they claim to cure ailments without administering any medicine.
Upon his arrival there, he was prohibited from having any contact with his family, even his wife and children. Zahoor was kept imprisoned for more than 8 weeks in a lonely institute, after which he endured the most horrific death.”
Zahoor’s family lodged an FIR against the Qari, but to no avail; the fake healer’s crimes have gone ignored, and not for the first time.
In fact, Qari Ilyas Qadri has been arrested for impractical treatment of his patients twice before; his madrassa was also closed down on both occasions.
First Arrest
First arrested in 2006 upon the complaints of 6 British nationals who had been lured into getting treatment from the clinic, his malpractice had garnered international attention when the former patients spoke up.
The Telegraph reported that patients were bound in chains and shackled together, where they were sexually assaulted, beaten, and starved.
Second Arrest
The second arrest came after two patients escaped in 2014 and exposed the Pir to the police, who broke in to discover 115 patients in chains lining the corridors. One of the patients, Noor Rehman, had spent three years shackled to a concrete slab crawling with insects. Noor had lost his eyesight overtime, possibly due to psychological stress or an untreated eye infection.
He recounted how the fraud Qari had threatened to beat them lest they utter a word against him.
Another told of how the Qari would force his patients to perform manual labour such as building walls of the institution. Some said they would cook in the absence of the kitchen staff.
It is suspected that the mullah has strong connections that have allowed him to escape the real consequences of his crimes; there is reason to believe that the local police station’s SHO is involved with the Qari and aided him in getting bail upon his arrests. With Zahoor Ahmed’s recent passing adding to the toll of Qadri’s dismissed atrocities over more than a decade, one can only help but wonder when the culprits will finally be held accountable for their actions.