PESHAWAR, March 9: A local court on Friday stayed the demolition of Falakser cinema in the Peshawar Cantonment which was recently declared a protected antiquity by the federal archaeology department.

The court of civil judge, Ahsanul Haq, issued an interim order restraining cinema owner Mian Qadeeruddin from further demolition of the building till March 19.

The court put on notice the Peshawar cantonment station commander, the cantonment executive officer, the military estate officer and Mian Qadeer.

A declaratory suit in this connection was filed by deputy director of the department of archaeology and museum, Bahadur Khan, requesting the court to declare demolition of the cinema as illegal and unlawful as it had been declared an antiquity under the Antiquities Act, 1975.

The cinema was previously known as the Lansdowne Theatre.

The building on the Saddar Road had been built in 1930s by a Sikh businessman and was an example of gothic and oriental architecture.

It may be mentioned that the Sarhad Conservation Network had launched a campaign for stopping the demolition of the cinema.

It had sent letters to various government departments, media, and civil society groups.

By the time the department issued notification declaring the cinema a protected antiquity, the owner had already demolished the front portion of the cinema.

The plaintiff has also filed an application for temporary injunctions requesting the court to restrain the owner from demolishing and changing structure of the building till final disposal of the suit.

Advocates Shakeel Aman and Abbas Khan Sangeen appeared for the plaintiff and contended that the building was declared a protected antiquity under section 10 of the Antiquity Act, 1975, by the archaeology department on February 28, 2007.

The counsel argued that under section 19 of the Act no person should break, destroy, damage, alter, deface or mutilate or scribble any antiquity.

They said that under section 20 the owner of a protected immovable antiquity should not make any alteration, renovation and addition to the antiquity.

They said that Mian Qadeer had acquired the land of the cinema on lease and he was not real owner.

The said that in case the defendants were not restrained from demolishing the cinema the government would suffer irreparable loss.

The plaintiff said that the Falakser Cinema was the immovable property of the archaeology department.

He said that the cinema and building had been allotted to Mian Qadeer on the basis of lease agreement for a period of 99 years.

He said that the Mian Qadeer illegally and unlawfully started construction work of a new building and started demolishing the cinema without obtaining any permission from the plaintiff.

He said that various official letters were issued to the defendants for stopping the illegal construction but in vain.