Balochistan accused made to face trial by fire

NEW DELHI: A video showing two young men walking barefoot on hot embers to prove their innocence has gone viral on social media in Pakistan.

The footage is from Sanjawi tehsil, Ziarat district in Balochistan province and the two men appear to have been accused of stealing equipment, Friday Times reported.

Authorities in the district have started an investigation into the incident. According to Assistant Commissioner of Sanjawi, Hassan Anwar, this event took place five days ago in Sira Khezi area near Sanjawi, about 60 km from Ziarat.

The two parties who organised this extraordinary ritual are described as having reached 'mutual consensus' to resolve their dispute in this manner, the report said.

One of the men subjected to the ordeal, Gul Zaman, claims that two weeks earlier, some tractors, batteries and generators were stolen from his employers.

When he informed the owners, they instead accused Gul Zaman and another employee Mohammad Raza of the theft, while also inflicting violence on them. The two men were told that the only way to prove their innocence was to walk across hot embers barefoot, the report said.

The video shows the two men taking turns to walk across a pit, some 10 to 12 ft long, filled with hot embers. Having succeeded in walking across it, they were apparently acquitted: since those present believed that there were no burns or blisters on their feet. Video footage shows them being embraced and garlanded after their ordeal, the report added. Such a ritualised trial by fire includes an invocation of the Holy Quran and the hot embers are 'asked' not to burn the feet of those who are innocent. If a person undergoing the trial gets blistered feet from the ordeal, they are considered guilty of the crime that they stood accused of. Making their way across the pit 'unharmed' leads to a verdict of innocence, the report said. (IANS)

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