Christian TV channel office burnt to ashes in Karachi

Gawahi TV head Javed Williams does not buy police version that fire erupted due to electric short-circuit

Two days have passed since Javed Williams and his co-workers received a call that turned their lives upside down. The Gawahi news channel building, along with their livelihood and hopes, had been burnt to ashes.

“How could anyone do this? I saw with my tears-filled eyes the Holy Bible’s pages blackened by the fire. How could their heart allow them to set ablaze this truth?” asks one of the workers of Gawahi Channel, resentment audible in his voice.



Gawahi TV, operated by the Gawahi Mission Trust had three ‘sacred’ goals -- education, rehabilitation and community development, shared a volunteer who wished to remain anonymous.

Located near the Saint Peter's Church in the Akhtar Colony area, which is inhabited by various religious communities, the vicinity’s population comprises of around 90% of Muslims and 10% minorities.

“There have never been problems amongst residents of the area, who belong to different schools of thought. We never had any direct threat either,” the volunteer says.



Williams, meanwhile, refuses to believe the police, which states that the fire due to an electric short-circuit.

Williams and his brother Sarfraz, who head the trust, had invested immense resources to make their dream of running a Christian TV channel a reality.

After the fire, which lasted almost half-an-hour, destroyed almost everything, including a Mac computer, DVDs, editing equipment, books, and records of their donors.

Around 15,000 booklets that were published by the trust titled “The Christ’s hope” were also destroyed in the fire.

Interestingly, the fire only seemed to touch valuable equipment and not the blankets, curtains, wooden structure inside the office. Further, the cameras used to shoot videos – which happen to be extremely pricey -- were not found in the rubble, suggesting they had been stolen.



“They set ablaze the things we used to spread our message,” a worker said.

“If it was caused by short-circuit then who would break-cut the door’s lock?” another said, pointing towards the old-styled lock, commonly known as kundi, with its holder smartly cut to open the door.

Inside the three -room office lay another lock beside the rubble of burned material which the workers said they have not touched as forensic investigations are under way.



Williams shared that police investigations have started and the Mehmodabad Police Station House Officer Sarwar Commando had asked them not to touch anything as his team would start a forensic investigation soon.

“We have halted our mission for the time being but we will not let our hopes die down. We were doing our God’s work and will continue to do so with the divine help,” he said.