 * Falakser Cinema demolished
* Another 100-year-old building on verge of demolition
The growing number of apartment buildings in the city pose a threat to sites of cultural significance despite efforts by the Archaeology and Museums Department to put this ancient city on the world heritage list.
Ancient religious sites, especially those belonging to the Hindu and Sikh communities, are being razed and converted into shopping plazas. A Sikh temple inside the walled-city, Gurdwara Biba Singh, has collapsed because of negligence, while many others face demolition at the hands of land-grabbers and government authorities.
The Cantonment authorities postponed their plan to remove a temple, Balmeek Mandir, in Kala Bari in Peshawar’s Saddar area, after the Balmeek community launched a protest drive to stop the demolition. An old temple has already been demolished in the Ram Pura market in the city.
The demolition of another old Hindu building, Karam Chand Hall in the Cantonment area, is also on the cards. The hall, built in 1933, is presently serving as a carpet weaving training centre.
Falakser Cinema: Despite the issuing of a stay order against the demolition of another historic building, the Falakser Cinema at Saddar Bazaar, the owner Mian Qadeerud Din has demolished the building, and is illegally constructing a shopping plaza for which he has not obtained permission from the NWFP Archaeology and Museums Department.
On March 7, 2007, a local court forbade the Peshawar Cantonment Executive officer and the Falakser Cinema owner from demolishing the century-old ‘picture house’ in the provincial metropolis. The NWFP Archaeology and Museums Department had challenged the demolition of the cinema.
After partition, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) took over possession of the building, subsequently handing it over to the Sarhad Small Industries Development Board (SSIDB) on lease in 1963.
Now, the SSIDB has decided to close down the carpet-weaving centre and build a shopping plaza at the site.
SSIDB officials said that the provincial Industry Department was negotiating with the ETPB to acquire the property permanently to construct the plaza, which would serve both as a handicraft outlet and as a commercial centre. However, an official of the ETPB said that initially it had been decided to hand over the building to the Industry Department, but that the trust had later reversed its decision.
He said that the ETPB had now decided to build a commercial centre on the site to increase its revenue and that the Architecture Department had been directed to finalise the draft design of the proposed commercial centre.
Another building: Similarly, the provincial and district governments had also decided to demolish a century-old building, housing pre- and post-partition historic records of lands, and court verdicts in criminal, civil and revenue cases; but the Peshawar High Court (PHC) stayed its demolition and sought advice from the district Peshawar Nazim-e-Aala; the District Revenue officer; and the local government secretary regarding the case.
A PHC two-judge bench comprising of justices Qaim Jan Khan and Ijaz Afzal Khan stopped the demolition through a writ petition filed by the Sarhad Conservation Network against the demolition of the historic Muhafiz Khana.
“There has been no maintenance of the building since the new devolution plan changed the old set-up of commissioners and deputy commissioners in August 2001,” a Muhafiz Khana official said.
“The historic records are close to destruction, and if that happens, it will be a great loss for Peshawar,” Sarhad Conservation Network official Adil Zareef said. An official from the NWFP Archaeology and Museums Department said that the government had limited resources to acquire ancient buildings in connection with the preservation of the city’s heritage. He said that under the Provincial Antiquity Act, a building more than 70 years old had to be included in the heritage list.
He said that the government, in collaboration with UNESCO, had included more than 50 sites of the city of the heritage list, while documentation of more sites is underway.
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