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Report: Pakistan president sacrifices goats to ward off evil

Other News Materials 27 January 2010 13:58 (UTC +04:00)
Pakistan's beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari has a black goat slaughtered on an almost daily basis to ward off bad luck and protect himself from "black magic," a news report said Wednesday.
Report: Pakistan president sacrifices goats to ward off evil

Pakistan's beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari has a black goat slaughtered on an almost daily basis to ward off bad luck and protect himself from "black magic," a news report said Wednesday.

The Dawn newspaper said Zardari petted the goats at the presidential palace in Islamabad before they were sacrificed at his private residence, DPA reported.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told the paper that it was not new for Zardari to offer sacrifices.

"It has been an old practice of Mr Zardari to offer Sadqa (charity). He has been doing this for a long time," Babar said.

The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying that Zardari also used to have a flock of black partridges at the palace to ward off bad luck, but the birds were killed when a power cable snapped and fell on their cage in a bizarre accident.

The revelations of goat sacrifices came as Zardari's popularity has been dropping sharply over allegations of corruption.

The Supreme Court revoked an amnesty last month that had been protecting Zardari against the graft charges, but his aides said that presidential immunity still protects him from prosecution.

The Dawn said Zardari's "new-found religiosity" would be seen by his detractors as a sign of nervousness over the court ruling, which ordered that investigations be opened into all the allegations.

The president, who was inaugurated in September 2008, has said at recent party gatherings that "political actors" and undemocratic forces were plotting to oust him, but he would not succumb to their conspiracy.

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