SARGHODHA: Pakistani volunteers and local residents gather around the bodies of people who were killed in a local shrine, outside the morgue of a hospital. — AP

ISLAMABAD: A man seen by devotees as a living saint has been charged with murder and terrorism after allegedly knifing and clubbing 20 worshippers to death at a Pakistani shrine, police said yesterday. Police are having to bring the case against 50-year-old Abdul Waheed and three alleged accomplices, officials said, because the victims’ relatives have such “blind faith” in him that they refuse to file charges.

The slaughter took place Sunday at the Sufi Muslim shrine of Mohammad Ali, built in 2015 near the city of Sargodha in Punjab province. Sufis believe in pirs or “living saints” who can intercede for them directly with God. Ali, the shrine’s first saint, was succeeded by Waheed, the new pir, who is also the shrine’s custodian. Senior police official Malik Ghulam Abbas said it was strange that even relatives of the dead did not wish to file a complaint. “They have such strong blind faith in their pir that they say whatever has happened, happened with the blessing of Allah,” he said.