Pakistan's rat people. Why did no one tell us about this?

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When I think of Pakistan, I often think of the filthy convenience stores with unscrubbed floors and stopped-up toilets. Other times I think of the Pakistani physician who thought it hopeless to serve in his home county and came to find a fortune in America.

Seldom have I thought of Pakistan's rat people. I didn't even know they existed.

For more than two centuries, the shrine of 17th-century Sufi saint Shah Daula in this Punjabi city has drawn women seeking fertility blessings — and produced a steady stream of children marked by microcephaly, small sloping heads, and intellectual challenges who became known as chuas. Chua is from the Punjabi word for rat.

Origins of a Tragic Tradition

The custom is rooted in local legend: a woman granted a child after praying at the shrine was expected to dedicate her firstborn to the saint. Breaking the vow, according to folklore, would result in later children being born with unusually small heads. The first documented accounts of these microcephalic individuals begging at the shrine date back to 1839. Over time, what began as a religious offering evolved into something far darker.

From Belief to Exploitation

Families facing poverty often sold affected infants to begging syndicates for small sums. Handlers trained the children to solicit alms from pilgrims, who believed refusing donations could invite misfortune.

One of the most widely reported cases was that of Nadia, a young woman who sat on a mattress outside the shrine for years in the early 2000s. She rocked ceaselessly, striking her face with each sway, while a collection box steadily filled with coins from pitying passersby. Similar groups of chuas were also moved along the Grand Trunk Road, forced to beg under the control of organized networks.

According to one documentary I watched on YouTube, Pakistanis would give rat people money in exchange for a pat on the head. The head pat was considered a blessing of good fortune from whatever deity the Pakistani happened to worship.

Medical and Social Reality

Medical experts attribute most cases to genetic conditions linked to consanguineous marriages, compounded by poor healthcare and nutrition. Though rumors of deliberate head-binding with iron rings have circulated, evidence points mainly to natural causes. The condition left the children visibly different, making them easy targets for lifelong exploitation.

Global prevalence of consanguine marriage

Approximately 60–66% of marriages are consanguineous in Pakistan, among the highest rates in the world.

Efforts to End the Practice

By the late 2000s, Pakistani authorities began cracking down on the begging mafias. Raids targeted the syndicates, and plans were announced to establish a rehabilitation center in Gujrat. The government also took greater control of shrine activities to curb abuse. These measures significantly reduced the number of permanent residents at the site.

There is no government effort to reel in consanguineous marriages.

A Fading but Lingering Issue

The last prominent figure, Nadia, died around 2019. While organized exploitation at the shrine itself has largely diminished, occasional reports of roadside begging by affected individuals continue to surface. The story of Pakistan’s “rat children” stands as a reminder of how superstition, stupidity, and a depraved culture can trap vulnerable people.

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