LAHORE: Three Christian leaders alleged on Monday that police were not registering a case of a mysterious fire that broke out at Apostolic Church in Shamkey Bhattian on Jan 6.

Masiha Millat Party (MMP) Punjab president William Javed told Dawn that a healing prayer was held in the church ground on January 6.

He said a large number of area people participated in the prayer and when they left the church, a fire mysteriously erupted there and engulfed the building.

“I have heard that some unidentified people set the church on fire. However, there is no witness to the sad incident”.

He said advocate Suba Saroya went to Manga Mandi police station for registration of a case against unknown miscreants but the complaint was not entertained.

Another leader of the community, Hanif Thekaydar, said it was premature to say whether the church was set ablaze by some miscreants or it caught fire accidentally.

“In both cases, police should have registered a case” Mr Hanif said.

MMP leader Aftab Gill said the pastors were using loudspeaker for the healing prayer. “Some Muslims of the area approached the church administration and asked them not to use loudspeaker as it was their prayer time,” Mr Gill said.

The church administration neither turned off the loudspeaker nor reduced its volume till conclusion of the prayers, the MMP leader said, alleging that some unidentified men later torched the church. He, however, could not name any witness to the incident.

Manga Mandi Station House Officer Inspector Muhammad Afzal claimed no one approached the police for registration of the case.

He said only a tent erected for the prayer and a sofa were gutted in the fire.

He said initial investigation revealed that an electric rod, temporarily arranged for the prayers, was not properly switched off that might have caused the fire.

“The tent might have caught fire which later engulfed the sofa,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2016