Arrests after 20 devotees killed at Sargodha shrine

• Police arrest shrine custodian as chief suspect along with five suspects; Punjab CM order police report within 24 hours; minister says unregistered shrine set up on private land

A custodian of a shrine in Sargodha and two accomplices have been arrested for intoxicating and murdering 20 devotees and injuring four others with batons and knives early on Sunday, police said.

Four women were among those killed in the attack at the shrine to Mohammad Ali, according to police, who said they had arrested seven suspects including the custodian. The motive for the slaughter was unclear but some officials said the chief suspect had mental health problems and had used violence on followers before.

Abdul Waheed, the 50-year-old custodian, has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him, said Zulfiqar Hameed, a regional police chief. “The suspect appears to be paranoid and psychotic, or it could be related to rivalry for the control of shrine,” he said, adding that the investigation into the killings was continuing.

Local police station chief Shamshir Joya said that the victims, whose clothes were torn and bloodstained, appeared to have been given intoxicants. “We suspect that the victims had been given some intoxicants before they were murdered, but we will wait for a forensics report to confirm this suspicion,” he added.

He said the shrine was built in the area some two and a half years ago. Sargodha Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatta said that Waheed, believed to be a resident of Nankana, was a one-time employee of the Election Commission of Pakistan. He took over the shrine after its completion.

Local rescue service official Mazhar Shah said that the custodian used to meet devotees once or twice a month and used violence to heal them. “Local people say that Waheed used to beat the visitors who came to him for ‘treatment’ of various physical or spiritual ailments,” he told reporters.

“Sometimes, he would remove the clothes of his visitors and burn them.” The attack was reported by an injured woman who arrived at the District Hospital Sargodha, Chatta said, adding that she was one of four survivors who managed to flee from the scene of the crime.

The television footage showed scattered shoes, clothes, sheets and cots in the yard of the white-painted domed shrine as police vehicles and police commandos surrounded the premises, sited amid green farmland. Acting on the information, a heavy contingent of police rushed to the shrine and arrested Waheed and his alleged accomplices, he said.

Chatta said that the shrine custodian seemed mentally unstable. He added that the custodian was allegedly in the practice of beating and torturing devotees to ‘cleanse’ them. Quoting the survivor, the deputy commissioner said that the custodian had contacted devotees via telephone and summoned them to his room one by one.

He said that the custodian had offered an intoxicating substance to his victims before removing their clothes and stabbing and beating them to death. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked for a police report on the investigation within 24 hours. Punjab Minister for Religious Affairs Zaeem Qadri said that intelligence agencies along with police and the local government were investigating all aspects of the case.

He said that his department managed some 552 shrines in the province, but this one was not a registered with it. “Investigators will also look into how this shrine was allowed to be set up on private land,” he said. There have been cases of people dying during exorcism ceremonies at some shrines across the country, but mass killings are rare.

The chief minister announced financial aid to the families of those who have been murdered and also to those who have got injured. According to the announcement, five lac rupees will be given to the heirs of each person who got killed in the incident whereas two lac rupees each will be given to seriously injured people. The chief minister issued instructions to the local administration for the provision of best medical facilities to those injured in this unfortunate incident.