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Asia Pacific|As Pakistan Moves to Ban Black Magic, Astrologers See a Bad Omen
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/world/asia/pakistan-black-magic.html
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The curtain glows under ceiling lights, and a soft cream-colored screen guards the privacy of clients who slip inside. On a glass panel by the door, bold white letters offer quiet assurance: Shahbaz, Astrologer & Palmist.
Shahbaz Anjum has worked in Shop 2-A inside the Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore, Pakistan, for 24 years. He does not advertise. Yet rich and poor, believer and skeptic, come to him for luck, direction, a glimpse behind the veil.
“I help people,” Mr. Anjum said. “That’s all. I don’t claim to heal, and I certainly don’t do black magic.”
Map of Pakistan highlighting Lahore. Islamabadf and Rawalpindi are also shown.
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Rawalpindi
Lahore
PAKISTAN
IRAN
INDIA
200 miles
He felt compelled to make that distinction as the Pakistani government moves to crack down on occult practices that lawmakers call a threat to the country’s social fabric.
A bill approved by the country’s Senate in March would impose prison terms of up to seven years and thousands of dollars in fines on people who provide a vaguely defined set of supernatural services.
