Mysterious fire in church courtyard damages equipment

Police blame short circuit, community sees foul-play

LAHORE: A ‘mysterious fire’ burnt down equipment in the courtyard of a church in a Lahore neighbourhood late last week, it emerged on Monday. A fire damaged the New Apostolic Church in the Bath village in Manga Mandi on January 7.

According to Niamat Saroya, a member of the local Christian community, they had left the church around 11 pm on January 6 after a Bible Study Programme. Two hours later they saw flames rising from the building.



Locals rushed to the church and saw that equipment laid out in the courtyard for the programme, including some furniture, tents, carpets and sound system, was on fire.

While the fire left soot on the façade of the church building, it did not enter the main hall since its heavy metal doors had been sealed shut. The locals extinguished the fire on a self-help basis and called the police.

SHO Aslam Sindhu said that they suspected a short circuit had caused the fire. However, Rafique Masih, a local Christian leader, told The Express Tribune that he believed there was foul play in the incident and pointed towards the tell-tale signs of a break-in, including footprints on a wall.

Abdul Hameed Numberdar, a local Muslim leader, told The Express Tribune that this was the first such incident in the village in the past 70 years.



The police, though, have refused to register an FIR for the incident with SHO Sindhu neither confirming nor denying that he had asked the Christian community to withdraw their application.

Meanwhile, the police have detained a mentally ill Muslim man for allegedly burning a copy of the Bible and a hymn book in Kasur.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2016.