VEHARI, April 8: The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has started demolition of a historic temple in C-Block to make a commercial market.

About 60 per cent building has been demolished. Two of the three towers of the temple have completely been razed to the ground.

A spokesman for the contractor firm, Asad Builders, told Dawn on Friday that a market would be built on four kanals of the temple land.

Another man sitting beside him hurriedly added that the temple was being renovated. However, his claim was belied by the fact that the contractor has put the old bricks, windows, doors, wood and other valuables on sale.

A resident of C-Block said valuables hidden underground, including silver and gold ornaments and coins, have also been recovered from the temple building. However, the spokesman denied it.

According to a historian, the governments of India and Pakistan were bound by the Liaquat-Nehro pact to protect the places of worship of minorities.

The temple was built in 1940 and inaugurated by a Hindu industrialist, Seth Ram Gopal.k — Correspondent