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A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 24 april 2023
39 bodies dug up in cult investigation of pastor in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Thir- died. The followers said
ty-nine bodies have been they were starving on the
found so far on land owned pastor's instructions in order
by a pastor in coastal Ke- to meet Jesus.
nya who was arrested for Police had been told
telling his followers to fast to there were dozens of shal-
death. low graves spread across
Malindi sub-county police Makenzi's farm and digging
chief John Kemboi said started on Friday.
that more shallow graves Makenzi has been on hun-
have yet to be dug up on ger strike for the past four
the land belonging to pas- days while in police cus-
tor Paul Makenzi, who was tody.
arrested on April 14 over The pastor has been ar-
links to cultism. rested twice before, in 2019
The total death toll is 43, be- and in March of this year,
cause a further four people in relation to the deaths
died after they and others of children. Each time, he
were discovered starving was released on bond,
at the Good News Interna- and both cases are still pro-
tional Church last week. ceeding through the court.
Police have asked a court Local politicians have
to allow them to hold urged the court not to re-
Makenzi longer as investi- Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of lease him this time, decry-
gations into the deaths of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya Sunday, ing the spread of cults in
April 23, 2023.
his followers continue. Associated Press the Malindi area.
A tipoff from members of Cults are common in Ke-
the public led police to nya, which has a largely re-
raid the pastor's property in Malindi, where they found 15 emaciated people, in- cluding the four who later ligious society.q

Indian police arrest Sikh separatist leader after long hunt

By ASHOK SHARMA and over the past 35 days left good because had they Authorities have deployed controversial agriculture
PRABHJOT GILL Singh with no choice,'' Gill gone into a gurdwara (Sikh thousands of paramilitary reforms being pushed by
Associated Press told reporters. shrine), and started shoot- soldiers in the state and Prime Minister Narendra
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian He said the police didn't ing you would have had a arrested nearly 100 of his Modi's government. The
police on Sunday arrested enter the shrine, imply- reaction from the general supporters. Singh's wife was legislation triggered a year
a separatist leader who ing that Singh was taken populous. The Sikhs happen prevented from leaving In- of protests that began in
has revived calls for an in- into custody after he left. to be very sensitive to gurd- dia last week. 2020, as farmers — most
dependent Sikh homeland Gill declined to confirm waras being attacked." Very little was known about of them Sikhs from Pun-
and the secession of In- whether Singh surrendered Sikhs are a religious minor- Singh until he arrived in jab state — camped on
dia's northern Punjab state, as claimed by his support- ity in India and say they are Punjab state in 2022 and the outskirts of New Delhi
which has a history of vio- ers. Singh was flown to Di- discriminated against by began leading marches through a harsh winter and
lent insurgency. brugarh in India's northeast the majority Hindus. More calling for the protection devastating coronavirus
Amritpal Singh had been where he will be detained than 3,000 people were of rights for Sikhs, who ac- surge. The protests ended
on the run since last month until he is brought to court killed by extremists dur- count for about 1.7% of In- after Modi's government
after capturing national at- to face charges. ing the 1980s insurgency dia's population. withdrew the legislation in
tention in February, when Punjab suffered a bloody in the prosperous farming Singh claims to draw inspi- November 2021.
hundreds of his supporters insurgency in the 1980s state. The insurgency was ration from Jarnail Singh Waris Punjab De was
stormed a police station in that led to the killing of In- crushed by Indian forces Bhindranwale, a Sikh mili- founded by Deep Sidhu,
Ajnala, a town in Punjab dia's then-Prime Minister by 1990. Punjab borders tant leader accused by an Indian actor who died
state, with wooden ba- Indira Gandhi by her Sikh India-controlled Kashmir the Indian government of in 2022 in a traffic accident.
tons, swords and guns to bodyguards at her official and Pakistan. India accus- leading an armed insur- Singh's speeches have be-
demand the release of a residence in New Delhi. Her es Pakistan of supporting, gency for Khalistan in the come increasingly popu-
jailed aide. assassination in 1984 trig- training and arming insur- 1980s. Bhindranwale and lar among supporters of
Punjab state police tweet- gered bloody rioting by her gents, a charge Islamabad his supporters were killed in the Khalistan movement,
ed Sunday that Singh was Hindu supporters against denies. 1984 when the Indian army which is banned in India.
arrested in Moga, a town Sikhs in northern India. Police declared Singh, a stormed the Golden Tem- Officials see it and affiliat-
in the state. A Sikh religious Ashwini Dubey, a lawyer in 30-year-old preacher, a ple, the holiest shrine in the ed groups as a national se-
leader, Jasbir Singh Rodde, Punjab state, said Singh's fugitive and accused him Sikh religion. curity threat. Even though
said Singh surrendered af- arrest would help police and his aides of creating Singh has styled himself af- the movement has waned
ter offering morning prayers dismantle the separatist discord in the state. Police ter Bhindranwale, with a over the years, it still has
at a Sikh shrine in Moga. network and its supporters. accused them of spread- long, flowing beard. He also some support in Punjab
Police officer Sukhchain Tavleen Singh, a political ing disharmony among dresses like Bhindranwale. and beyond — including
Singh Gill said police had commentator and former people, attempted mur- Singh also heads Waris Pun- in countries like Canada,
surrounded the village on journalist who covered the der, attacking police per- jab De, or Punjab's Heirs, an the United States and the
intelligence that Singh was Punjab insurgency in the sonnel and obstructing organization that was part United Kingdom, which
in the shrine. "Relentless 1980s, said: "The police public servants' lawful dis- of a massive campaign to are home to a sizable Sikh
pressure built by the police took this man out, which is charge of duty. mobilize farmers against diaspora.q