ina Shah Jilani, the wife of an influential spiritual mentor being held for allegedly molesting and murdering a nine-year-old maid in Ranipur, Khairpur, and her father Pir Fayyaz Hussain Shah Jilani have fled and were last seen in Balochistan, DIG Javed Soonhao Jiskani of Sukkur police says.

Addressing the press on Thursday, the official also said that efforts were underway to put the names of Hina Shah and her father on the exit control list. According to DIG Jiskani, a search warrant has been issued for her residence.

The other suspect in the case, Hina Shah’s husband Pir Asad Shah Jilani, is in police custody. On Monday, he was presented before a judicial magistrate who extended his physical remand for five days.

It has been reported that pressure from the notables of the area, including a dacoit, is mounting on the parents of the deceased maid. The dacoit is said to have sent them a video containing a warning of ‘dire consequences’ in case his Pir is implicated.

Despite these attempts, on Thursday, Shabnam Khatoon, the mother of the deceased child identified Pir Fayyaz Hussain Shah Jilani as a suspect in the FIR she had lodged earlier.

According to the child’s mother, she had left her daughter, Fatima, with Pir Fayyaz Hussain Shah Jilani who later sent her to his daughter Hina Shah’s residence.

Allegations about the suspect being a part of an international racket involved in child abuse have also emerged.

“Our daughter has been murdered in cold blood. We will settle for nothing but justice,” the parents told the press earlier this week.

Another development came on Tuesday when the police raided Pir Asad’s mansion and recovered seven people, including three women who had worked as maids and four children. They were presented before a court to record their statements.

The case surfaced when a disturbing video of Fatima, a nine-year-old child maid was leaked on the internet. In the video, the child can be seen struggling to get up and then collapsing.

By the time the clips went viral, the child was already dead. According to the police, Fatima Furiro passed away on August 14 and was buried without any complaint to the police.

The body was exhumed after the video made waves on the social media and a six-member medical board was constituted to conduct an autopsy.

According to the autopsy report, says DIG Jiskani, the board found evidence that the child had been tortured, severely neglected and raped.

Later, Fatima’s cousin Ujala, aged 14, who also worked in the same household came forward to state that Fatima had been tortured by Hina Shah, Pir Asad Shah and Faiyyaz Hussain Shah. According to Ujala, Fatima was routinely beaten and severely neglected. “She was denied medical attention. She was not given water when she asked for it. She was kept from meeting her family,” Ujala said in a video.

Police say a request to place the names of Hina Shah and her father on the exit control list and block their CNICs has been forwarded to the Home Department.

“Hina Shah had a way of being violent towards staff employed by her husband and father,” Ujala said. “The rest of us weren’t safe either. Shah would throw hot water at us, beat us up with a wiper and make us hit one another,” she said.

“We were paid Rs 4,000. When I told my parents how violent Hina Shah was they initially did not believe me. Fatima’s death changed that,” said Ujala.

Zaibul, Ujala’s mother, said that when she went to visit her daughter, she was not be allowed to see her for more than five minutes. “I believed my daughter but felt helpless. But now we are going to fight for justice for Fatima,” she said.

Earlier, a cousin of Pir Asad Shah Jilani, Pir Sohail Ahmed Shah, was named in connection with the disappearance of Sana, a 20-year-old woman who had worked at his residence. According to her father Deedar Gurmani he had left his daughter at the residence of the Pir efore she vanished.

“A month ago, the pir called me and informed me that my daughter had run away. I travelled to Ranipur from Qambar [where I lived] to ask the pir how a woman could disappear like that,” said the man. “If my daughter is alive, I demand that she be recovered,” Gurmani said at a press conference.

Pir Sohail Ahmed Shah has recorded his statement in connection with the missing maid case. The pir maintained that the girl had eloped and that he knew nothing about her whereabouts. DIG Jiskani says that investigations are under way to recover Sana. He says the caretaker chief minister has directed the Sukkur division commissioner to investigate the matter.

Mohsin Babbar, a senior journalist, attributes the distressing abuse and tragic demise of Fatima to abject poverty and the unquestioning allegiance to spiritual mentors.

He says the state ownership and political backing have empowered the self-proclaimed spiritual figures who often disregard the law.

Babbar says that unless the local administration and the police break free from the influence of these political and spiritual leaders, people should brace themselves for more cases of the kind.

Naseer Memon, a social activist says, “the Pir families are no longer simple spiritual guides; they are part of the feudal-political nexus. Poverty, illiteracy and superstition help their cause.”

According to Barkat Ansari, the provincial coordinator of SAHIL, a non-governmental organisation working against child abuse, between January and June this year, 2,227 cases of sexual violence against children were reported in Pakistan.

“These are reported cases. The reports were published in 86 daily newspapers in Pakistan. This shows that about 12 children in Pakistan are victims of sexual violence every day,” says Ansari.

1,648 cases were reported in the Punjab and 314 in Sindh. 55 per cent of the cases were reported in cities and 45 per cent in villages, according to Ansari.

The writer is a freelance contributor