The mushrooming of fake peers (spiritual guides) in Kashmir is due to non-existing strict laws and punishments. The Government needs to frame tough laws to imprison such people and get every single information about fake peers in every village registered.
I’m a socio-political activist and seminary student and have expressed concern over the mushrooming of fake peers in Valley as they influence the common man’s feeble mind and sell their products in the name of religion. It seems that illiteracy has triumphed once again in the 21st Century. What has happened to us as an Ummah (community)? People need to stop going to them and they will shut shop and run away themselves.
I said in a press statement that it’s the marketing of religion. Fake peers in Kashmir have made it a lucrative business industry and are charging huge amounts of money from common people by claiming that they can talk to the jins (demons) and help resolve all problems. Sometimes they also blackmail a person by saying that they will leak all their information.
Hundreds of stories and news reports about fake peers in print and electronic media are enough to awaken the conscience. However, this evil still exists and ruins the sanctity of religion by these self-styled peers who exploit people spiritually, physically, emotionally and economically.
Due to many reasons — anxiety, material lust, blind faith, etc. — people want to seek a way to change their destiny in just a night; they want immediate solutions for their day-to-day problems, resulting in a trap. Here, such peers hit their weakness and after a brief analysis, with their words, they grab attention by revealing some common things and prepare their mind to follow them.
Fake peers express hatred towards the true Ulamas (Muslim legal scholars) by making derogatory statements regarding them and mock the word fatwa and believe to be above all and are lenient with free mixing of men and women. Usually, the rush of women towards peers depicts our standing and shame.
I request the Government and other agencies to come up with tough laws to plug up all loopholes to better humanity at large. The Government needs to frame tough laws to imprison such people and chalk out an effective strategy to get every single information about fake peers in every village registered by different means.
If authorities don’t take appropriate action against rising mushrooming of fake peers in Valley, these activities might drown our society into darkness for all times to come.