Suspects involved in Sargodha shrine massacre sent on 3-day physical remand
The suspects will be again presented before the court on April 6.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News / AFP) - The custodian of a Sufi shrine of Mohammad Ali along with three accomplices sent to jail on a three-day physical remand for allegedly torturing and killing 20 worshippers with knives and clubs.
According to details, the suspects will be again presented before the court on April 6.
The victims were apparently given intoxicants before the gruesome killings, and some of the bodies were stripped nude.
The custodian, 50-year-old Abdul Waheed, told police he killed the worshippers because he thought they might kill him one day, Arshad Abbas, an investigator in the case, told AFP.
Some officials have said Waheed had mental health problems and had used violence on followers before.
Several million Muslims in Pakistan are still believed to follow Sufism, although it has been overtaken in recent decades by more mainstream versions of the faith.
But visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor -- and cash to custodians -- remains a very popular custom. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered.
Hardliners such as the Taliban have carried out major attacks on Sufi shrines because they consider them heretical.
In February 90 people were killed and hundreds wounded in Pakistan s southern province of Sindh, when a suicide bomber blew himself up among devotees at a Sufi shrine in an attack.
In remote and rural areas they are far from medical aid.
Devotees are often impoverished and women and children are usually in attendance for the dancing and music.
