Rawalpindi/ Gujar khan  -   A huge fire mysteriously engulfed a church located along GT Road in Gujar Khan reducing books, windows, doors, curtains and other stuff into ashes, informed sources on Saturday.

The incident took place in the limits of Police Station Gujar Khan, wherein, the administration of UP Junior Church had also tabled an application for interrogation into fire incident, they said. However, Rawalpindi police chief has stated short circuit caused fire in the church that was overwhelmed by the fire fighters of Rescue 1122. An inquiry into church inferno is underway, he said.

According to sources, a huge fire broke out in the UP Junior Church adjacent to District Heasquarters (DHQ) Hospital along GT Road in Gujar Khan on Saturday midnight while gutting books, curtains, windows, doors, carpet and other stuff. The church inferno swelled waves of panic among the minorities and the law enforcement agencies as heavy contingent of police along with Rescue 1122 firefighters rushed to the scene and overwhelmed the fire.

The police investigators cordoned off the area and collected evidences. 

The entire Christain community condemned the fire incident in the church and asked government and LEAs to hold a free and partial inquiry into sadistic incident to unveil the truth.

City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani, through his spokesman, said that the fire into church broke out due to short circuit as per initial investigation.

He said police along with Rescue 1122 fire

fighters controlled fire and collected evidence. He said that police have also launched interrogation in the church inferno through different angles. “Rawalpindi police are buckled up for protecting the lives and property of public round the clock,” said the top cop. Meanwhile, sources revealed that an exchange of harsh words occured between management of church and the owner of an iron godown adjacent to the church could be the reason behind fire as an application had been moved with SHO PS Gujar Khan for a thorough and fair investigation into church inferno.

Meanwhile, the minorities held a protest demo in Gujar Khan during which administrator of UP Junior Church said he had nominated a local businessman for the fire incident in a complaint for FIR but police termed it as an electricity short circuit. He said that the Christian community just wanted to celebrate Easter in the church.

While speaking with the media, the church’s caretaker, Elder Javed, stated that the police had submitted a complaint citing a short circuit as the cause of the fire, despite the fact that he had not disclosed this in his statement. He stated that the church was closed after switching off all lights on Friday evening following Good Friday worship. Javed claimed that Sheikh Ahmed, a native of the area, had an altercation with them and removed a fabric partition built for security reasons. He accused Ahmed or someone else of torching the church at his behest. He further stated that the event was intended to damage community’s feelings and disrupt city peace. 

Assistant Commissioner Gujar Khan, Murad Hussain Nekokara, spoke with the protestors and assured them of impartial investigations into the incident.