"Followers of a self-described mystic, the pilgrims were accustomed to rituals in which they received spiritual guidance and sometimes removed their clothes to be cleansed of their sins."

"Instead, the Pakistani police said on Sunday, they were given an intoxicating drink and then beaten with batons and hacked with knives, leaving 20 of them dead and four others injured...."

“The practices at shrines include money donations, jewelry and gifts in return of a pat of blessing from the custodians,” [said an aide to the aide to chief minister of Punjab Province]. “Some guardians are appointed after an inner power struggle no less than those on the lines of Cosa Nostra... There have been cases in which unknowns are granted the status of sainthood and their burial places declared shrines, merely for the purpose of donation collection... Large sums of money are then collected and used on food, clothing, processions and, when an illicit custodian is involved, on drugs, women and alcohol.”