Webdesk: Hot-blooded Pakistani men seek a cold-blooded sexual cure in a bustling bazaar: freshly rendered lizard fat marinated in scorpion oil and garnished with fiery red spice.
The black market balm “sanda tael”—cola-colored and smelling of burnt frying pan—has no scientific backing.
It also kills the reclusive Hardwicke’s spiny-tailed lizard and cooks its innards on a gas hob.
“You just apply five drops over the affected area and massage,” said Yasir Ali, one of four vendors in Rawalpindi’s Raja Bazaar.
“It does magic in terms of promoting sexual stamina,” the 40-year-old told AFP.
Moreover, On his tarpaulin sheet covered in glass vials, paralysed lizards lounge.
While, Ali promises his customers “a solution to bring joy and happiness” and “strong like steel” as they browse his potions.
“It will make your wife happy,” he says. “Buy and try it.”
Moreover, Sultan Mehmood, 62, a 30-year user, says it “works like a miracle” and describes his sexual performance.
The meek lizards, which grow to 60 centimetres (24 inches), are caught sunbathing in Punjab and Sindh.
While, Muhammad Nasir, 25, sets fishing wire snares on the arid plateaus around Adiala, Islamabad, at night. He caught 12 in hours.
‘Over 90,000 quacks playing with human lives in province’
“We break lizards’ backs after capturing them,” the fourth-generation poacher said. “The animal moves like a bullet, so this keeps them from running away.”
“Sometimes it’s quite painful to hunt these lizards and deprive them of their right to live in a natural habitat, but this is how we make a living.”
In a country where couples are pressured to have large families, infertility is stigmatised, and Viagra is illegal, the quack remedy for sexual impotence is popular.
Trade Exploitation
While, Islamabad clinician Ahmad Shahab says the trade exploits naivety caused by Pakistan’s sexuality taboo.
“It is absolutely rubbish and there is no truth in claims that the oil helps,” Shahab said.
“Sex is a subject people are quite curious about and these quacks are making fools of them,” he added.
“We must educate our people and change their mindset.”
Moreover, WWF senior research and conservation manager Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry called healing claims “totally false and devoid of any truth”.
Spiny-tailed lizards are “vulnerable” according to the IUCN.
Chaudhry warned that lizards will be extinct due to overexploitation.
Ali, the vendor, says he has been arrested “many times” by wildlife protection officers, but after paying fines of 10,000 rupees ($35), he was allowed to continue selling.
Ali kills the 15-year-old sand-colored lizards by cutting their necks and melting their plump bellies.
He claims the unction contains saffron, an expensive spice, but the oil costs 600 to 1,200 rupees ($2 to $4).
He claims it cures joint pain, back pain, sciatica, and hair loss.
“I have regular customers from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Sharjah, Malaysia, and several African countries,” he boasts.
65-year-old Muhammad Azam disagrees.
It’s fraud, he said. I found this medicine ineffective. It’s contaminated.”
Ali’s 40-year-old colleague Muhammad Rafiq says others use the oil “to satisfy their wives and to have children”.
“This is an indisputable human desire,” he said.
