06 January 2004	Tuesday	13 Ziqa'ad 1424

MULTAN, Jan 5: A priest was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in Khanewal on Monday. A police patrol reportedly spotted a blood-stained body near the Khanewal Railway Station at about 4am. On search, the police learnt that the deceased was Mukhtar Masih (51), a resident of Khurrampura colony and a priest at the local Protestant church.

Initially, the heirs of the deceased refused to get his postmortem conducted but they gave their consent when the police stressed it to know the cause of the death.

The postmortem report revealed that the deceased had received two bullets of 0.32 calibre pistol from a pointblank distance in his chest, that pierced through his heart.

The family of the deceased told the police that he had left home at about 3am to catch a train for Lahore to attend a meeting about some administrative affairs of the church.

Khanewal District Police Officer Dr Jameel said the Christian community of the area was waiting for the arrival of its bishop from Sheikhupura for the registration of the case.

Multan range DIG police Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed said the police were investigating involvement of personal enmity, intra-church politics or terrorism in the incident.