AJMAL and ADIL Feeding shots This boy’s a slave. Six year old Adil is also blind and microcephalic – small headed. His master looks after him well and well he might. Since the family acquired the boy as a baby, he’s been their main source of income.Believers in an ancient myth call microcephalics rats and consider them all messengers from God.
Collage of microcephalicsMusicPeople praying at shrine Nobody knows why there are so many microcephalics in Pakistan. Throughout the country those enslaved by the myth are ignored by the government and out side agencies.
Here in the town of Gujrat in the Punjab the myth began. A holy man became known for his acts of kindness to the orphaned and infirm. The man was called Shah Daulla and this is his shrine. According to the myth infertile women who pray here will be granted children, but at a price. Their first baby will be microcephalic, a child of God, and must be given to the shrine.If they refuse then, according to the myth, all subsequent children will be similarly afflicted.The shrine of Shah Daulla stopped accepting children in 1965 when the government took control of all shrines. But now clans of beggar masters keep the myth alive – to their own profit.
AJMAL with ADIL at bus stop
AJMAL“Shah Daulla …”
SADIA BOKHARIHuman Rights Society of Pakistan ENGLISHThey are exploiting sentiments of illiterate people and they are using them for their own material gains.And they are using them to misuse children, to make money out of them.
ASTON:AJMAL BeggarmasterPUNJABI“10 rupees, 5 rupees, 2 rupees. Whatever they can afford. Some people give 1000 2000 rupees. Depending on what they asked for.”
Begging at stationMob incident Not everybody is happy with the way the beggars use the myth.
MAN IN MOBPUNJABI“Shah Daulla would never take any offering of a child. If he found any orphans he would take care of them. But these people who are drugged out junkies they do this business to pay for their habit.”
ShrineMr Shafi keeper of shrine walking Mohammed Shafi is the keeper of the Shah Dualla shrine. He works for the government department of shrines, AUQAF. He says the beggar masters are criminals and the shrine has no association with either the myth or microcephalics who have been banned from the shrine.
ASTON:MOHAMMAD SHAFIKeeper of Shah Daulla shrineAUQAF Department PUNJABI “The AUQAF department has put restrictions on them, and near the shrine they don’t beg and neither do any thing which will bring a bad name to the AUQAF department. They are in different cities and AUQAF department is not established in every city. We can just those who are near the Shah Daulla shrine. It should be stopped on high level by the government of Pakistan. “
Microcephalic outside shrine taking money, blessing visitors Yet in the grounds of the shrine, a young microcephalic woman blesses the pilgrims and puts their money into the shrine’s collecting box.
Compound of beggar masters.Adil on bed Adil is one of at least three microcephalics owned by this family. The earning power of these people means that they are bought and sold for prices up to twelve hundred dollars.This family of beggar masters is a large one and they say they have no other means of income but the money begged by their three charges.
ASTON:AuntPUNJABI“Ajmal’s aunt”They earn as much as they can. God sometimes gives them more sometimes less. It is up to God. What is written for the child God gives.
ASTON:AJMALBeggarmasterPUNJABI(On bed with ADIL)“He’s a holy man. He prays. His prayers are heard by God. And if I pray with him God listens to my prayers too . Then people give him money because he is a holy man. Isnt’t that so sir?”ADIL, (reply)“Yes”
Throughout Pakistan Beggar masters set up temporary camps from where they ply their trade and search for families with microcephalic children.
PARVEZ 18 yearsBeggarmasterPUNJABI“And then we tell them that you have to give this child to the shrine. And if people give that child to the shrine then the next child will be OK. And those who don't accept this we tell them they will be born more rat children in their house.”
Ajmal and Adil at bus station begging This blind six-year old will probably be a beggar for the rest of his life. But for the rat children of Pakistan that is the fate of a messenger of God. Martin Adler, Channel Four News, Gujrat, Pakistan.ENDS
Collage of microcephalicsMusicPeople praying at shrine Nobody knows why there are so many microcephalics in Pakistan. Throughout the country those enslaved by the myth are ignored by the government and out side agencies.
Here in the town of Gujrat in the Punjab the myth began. A holy man became known for his acts of kindness to the orphaned and infirm. The man was called Shah Daulla and this is his shrine. According to the myth infertile women who pray here will be granted children, but at a price. Their first baby will be microcephalic, a child of God, and must be given to the shrine.If they refuse then, according to the myth, all subsequent children will be similarly afflicted.The shrine of Shah Daulla stopped accepting children in 1965 when the government took control of all shrines. But now clans of beggar masters keep the myth alive – to their own profit.
AJMAL with ADIL at bus stop
AJMAL“Shah Daulla …”
SADIA BOKHARIHuman Rights Society of Pakistan ENGLISHThey are exploiting sentiments of illiterate people and they are using them for their own material gains.And they are using them to misuse children, to make money out of them.
ASTON:AJMAL BeggarmasterPUNJABI“10 rupees, 5 rupees, 2 rupees. Whatever they can afford. Some people give 1000 2000 rupees. Depending on what they asked for.”
Begging at stationMob incident Not everybody is happy with the way the beggars use the myth.
MAN IN MOBPUNJABI“Shah Daulla would never take any offering of a child. If he found any orphans he would take care of them. But these people who are drugged out junkies they do this business to pay for their habit.”
ShrineMr Shafi keeper of shrine walking Mohammed Shafi is the keeper of the Shah Dualla shrine. He works for the government department of shrines, AUQAF. He says the beggar masters are criminals and the shrine has no association with either the myth or microcephalics who have been banned from the shrine.
ASTON:MOHAMMAD SHAFIKeeper of Shah Daulla shrineAUQAF Department PUNJABI “The AUQAF department has put restrictions on them, and near the shrine they don’t beg and neither do any thing which will bring a bad name to the AUQAF department. They are in different cities and AUQAF department is not established in every city. We can just those who are near the Shah Daulla shrine. It should be stopped on high level by the government of Pakistan. “
Microcephalic outside shrine taking money, blessing visitors Yet in the grounds of the shrine, a young microcephalic woman blesses the pilgrims and puts their money into the shrine’s collecting box.
Compound of beggar masters.Adil on bed Adil is one of at least three microcephalics owned by this family. The earning power of these people means that they are bought and sold for prices up to twelve hundred dollars.This family of beggar masters is a large one and they say they have no other means of income but the money begged by their three charges.
ASTON:AuntPUNJABI“Ajmal’s aunt”They earn as much as they can. God sometimes gives them more sometimes less. It is up to God. What is written for the child God gives.
ASTON:AJMALBeggarmasterPUNJABI(On bed with ADIL)“He’s a holy man. He prays. His prayers are heard by God. And if I pray with him God listens to my prayers too . Then people give him money because he is a holy man. Isnt’t that so sir?”ADIL, (reply)“Yes”
Throughout Pakistan Beggar masters set up temporary camps from where they ply their trade and search for families with microcephalic children.
PARVEZ 18 yearsBeggarmasterPUNJABI“And then we tell them that you have to give this child to the shrine. And if people give that child to the shrine then the next child will be OK. And those who don't accept this we tell them they will be born more rat children in their house.”
Ajmal and Adil at bus station begging This blind six-year old will probably be a beggar for the rest of his life. But for the rat children of Pakistan that is the fate of a messenger of God. Martin Adler, Channel Four News, Gujrat, Pakistan.ENDS