Police arrested Church elder and treasurer Zubair Akhtar Khokhar after confronting him with video evidence from CCTV cameras of the fire set on Thursday (Nov. 16), said the Rev. Samuel Massey, pastor of Gulberg Presbyterian Church in Lahore.

Police arrested church elder and treasurer Zubair Akhtar Khokhar after confronting him with video evidence from CCTV cameras of the fire set on Thursday (Nov. 16), said the Rev. Samuel Massey, pastor of Gulberg Presbyterian Church in Lahore.

The fake letter, dated Oct. 16, 2023, warned the congregation against worshipping too loudly.

Naseerabad police registered a case against Zubair under Sections 295 and 436 of the Pakistan Penal Code, according to First Information Report (FIR) No. 3140/23. Section 295 relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.” It is punishable by three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Section 436 states, “Anyone who intentionally or knowingly causes damage to a building used for worship, living, or keeping property by using fire or an explosive substance will be subjected to punishment, which may include life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of not less than three years nor more than ten years.”

“Pastor Massey said he and other church elders were shocked when police summoned them on Saturday (Nov. 18) and shared their findings.

The police questioned Zubair on Friday night because he was the only person who, by his admission, had unlocked the gate and, after some time, reported the fire incident to me on the phone,” “Ashley said.

The church pastor said that the church leaders were already wary of ZuZubair’s attitude and had limited his role in administrative matters. Pastor Massey adamantly declined to elaborate, saying speaking against a church member was not right.

Two years ago, a Muslim family filed a police complaint against the church to stop using the sound system during worship, but Pastor Massey said that the administration had addressed the concern.

“Zubai” was part of the session team that handled the issue,” he said. “He connected the recent events with that incident to give it a religious cover, which would have posed a serious threat to interfaith relations in the area.”

Church and community leaders said the involvement of a congregation member in the arson had put Pakistani Christians in an embarrassing situation.

“It’s shameful,” “said Bishop Azad Marshall, president of the Church of Pakistan.

According to Pak Mission Society Chief Officer Aqeel Rehman, the arson further compromised the quest for justice by persecuting Christians in Pakistan.

On Sept. 29, police in Faisalabad charged the Rev. Eleazar Sidhu with making false allegations after he admitted that a gunshot wound he blamed on Islamic extremists was self-inflicted.

Christian leaders claimed that the pastor’s allegation, along with the unjustified activism of a small number of Christian rights activists on social media, diverted attention from the persecution of Christians in the Jaranwala riots and supported the claims of Islamist hardline groups that Christians were using blasphemy cases to get asylum in western nations, citing threats, persecution, and a lack of security in Pakistan.

Pakistan ranked seventh on the Open Doors 23 World Watch List of the most challenging places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.