LAHORE: Short in stature and soft spoken, Pakistani paramedic Ehsan* was probably destined for a life of relative anonymity, until he began killing homosexual men he met online.
The 28-year-old father-of-two was arrested last week and confessed to three brutal murders, saying he wanted to send out a message about the “evils” of homosexuality, though police insist he had sex with his victims first.
Ehsan said he was the victim of sexual abuse by an older boy when he was around 10 years old and had led a deeply unhappy childhood.
“I have hated them ever since what happened to me,” he said.
The killings have sent shockwaves through the underground gay community of the eastern city of Lahore, which fears Ehsan could be lionised as a hero in a conservative society where homosexuality is stigmatised and sodomy is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
In an interview with AFP from his prison cell Sunday night, Ehsan, who sported a neat trimmed beard and was kept shackled, expressed remorse over the killings but said he was acting to stop wrongdoing.
“My way was wrong. It is tragic that the families have lost their relatives but they were spreading evil in society and I had to stop it,” said Ehsan, who is due to appear in court on Monday. “I wanted to warn them to stay away from this evil.”
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