PESHAWAR, Nov 5: The Sarhad Conservation Network on Wednesday denounced the Peshawar cantonment board’s decision to demolish a one-and-a-half-century-old Balmeeki temple and order the Hindu community to vacate the site for the construction of a commercial plaza.

The network’s executive council, in its meeting, said the decision to demolish the temple flew in the face of the NWFP Act of Antiquity and Cultural Property, 1998.

“This is a fundamental human rights issue with an antiquity and heritage dimension. One can imagine how brazen and wanton these market forces are, and how helpless the authorities are in tackling such sensitive and serious issues,” a press release said. It said the decision smacked of double standards and discrimination against the minorities.

It said the religious shrines and landmarks were a part of a heritage that had to be cherished and protected.  

It asked the federal and provincial archaeology departments to take note  of the order and direct the authorities concerned to stop the destruction  of the historical sites.

It called on the citizens and civil society to make collective efforts to protect and conserve their heritage from the market forces.—Bureau