Two unidentified men tried to set fire to a Pakistani church building on Saturday night (April 5), but timely intervention by the pastor prevented the attack, sources said.
Pastor Tambar Bhuta of Besanya Pentecostal Church in Gurshan Basti, in the Musharraf Colonial Area of Pournagall, Kasar district of Punjab, said he was sleeping in the settlement on the church grounds.
Seeing the light in the hall of the church, he opened the door to it.
“I saw two men who covered my face, and one of them was lit up the curtains on the window,” Pastor Bhuta told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “I cried at them and ran to stop them, but they ran out of the main entrance.”
His younger brother, Usman Bhuta, woke up after hearing the fuss, ran to the place and swallowed the curtains and smoked fire while the pastor called the police.
“At the moment a police team led by senior officers arrived there, they recovered a bottle containing kerosene during the investigation and a stick containing a cloth tied to the end that was used to start the fire,” Pastor Bhuta said.
Bhuta is not under threat to him or his church. He also said there was no religious tension in the area where there were four other Pentecostal churches and one Catholic church.
“We live in our area with around 500 Christian families and have never faced any hostility from our Muslim neighbors,” he said. “I’m still at a loss to understand if anyone wants to burn our little church.”
The 16-family Besanya Church began just two years ago, he said.
He asked why he said in his first information report (FIR) that he suspected the incident was an attempted robbery, Pastor Bhuta said police added the sentence to the FIR without his consent.
“It was actually the police who scattered books and documents on the carpet and gave the impression that the case was an attempt to rob a failed robbery,” he said.
He said at meetings with the district police chief and other officers they assured him a thorough investigation. They told him they were waiting for a fingerprint analysis that would help them track the suspects.
The 40-year-old pastor began his idyllic service eight years ago, building a church on his own property.
“We are very grateful to God for saving our church and settlement from fire,” Pastor Bhuta said. “The authorities believe that the person behind this criminal activity will be brought to justice.
In November 2023, a Presbyterian church building in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, was burned in a suspicious arson attack. The flames destroyed the altars of the church, Bible and other Christian books, two air conditioning units and furniture, and more.
The religious motives for the arson were first suspected, but police investigations found that the fire was launched by a senior member of the congregation, who was also the treasurer of the meeting, who sought to seize the pastor’s position.
The suspect previously sent a false threat letter in the name of a group of Muslims to scare the pastor, but when he was unable to see the desired outcome, he decided to burn the church building and condemn the Islamist outfit to show that the threat to the pastor’s life was real.
With a Muslim population of over 96%, Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it is the hardest place to become a Christian.
