LAHORE, Pakistan, April 1 -- At least 20 people were killed and 100 injured in a stampede in the central Pakistani province of Punjab, police said Sunday.
The stampede occurred when thousands of devotees tried to rush through a sacred door at the shrine of a sufi saint, Baba Farid Shakur Gunj.
The saint has millions of supporters in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and is admired by people of all faiths and religions.
His followers believe that those who pass through this door are washed off their sins.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Shaukat Javed, said the dead were among thousands of men crammed into a narrow street leading to the door.
Called beheshti darwaza or gate-to-the-paradise, the door is opened only once a year during the annual celebrations at the shrine.
Javed said many of the victims, including a 12-year-old boy, died of suffocation as they were crushed against a wall.