HYDERABAD: December 6, 2012. (By Abbas Kassar) The Military Estate Office, which assisted a private builder in the demolition of a Hindu temple and houses in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar, on December 2, insists that the Hindu community had encroached on the precious land for commercial building. Despite debris lying over the compound, the president’s notice and the angry protests by the Hindu community as well as civil society and Sindhi Media Forum in Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas metropolitan cities, the Director of Military Lands and Cantonment (Z. A) was adamant to acknowledge that the Shri Rama Pir Mandir had not been damaged. She says that her people have told her that the deities were all in sound condition. In her attempt to humiliate the Hindu community she said that "the people who had deities in their homes had deliberately put them in front of the debris of the damaged houses. This was done to present a wrong picture that the temple was destroyed." She was referring to the photographs printed in the newspapers and the video clips of different electronic channels. She also confessed that military did the operation when a builder approached them and the temple was already in bad condition. It was reliably learnt through Asian Human Rights Commission source. If the contention of MEO is accepted it would mean all temples of minority in country which are in bad condition should be demolished. The insulting statement from the director has infuriated the Hindu community and they rejected the idea that the army had the right to demolish the houses and temple of a marginalized community. In fact, the land belongs to the Evacuee Property Trust Board which has nothing to do with the cantonment board of the military. The temple was constructed around seven years before the creation of Pakistan and at the time the property belonged to India. It is interesting to note that the provincial High Court of Sindh had already given the stay order against the demolition of the temple which has still not been vacated. Then there is law of land that any historical building that is 70 years old be declared as national heritage and not trempled. This action of demolition of a more than 70 years old temple is also a gross violation of UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (IESCR) which Pakistan has already ratified and pledged before the UN Human Rights Council that it will follow all the articles of the IESCR. However, the military always acts as if it is above the law. It is astonishing that the military has come to such a point where it started working at the behest of an ordinary builder with legal requirements. It is no more a secret that the Pakistan Rangers has illegally occupied much land in Karachi in the name of maintaining law and order in the city. They also have occupied many public schools and their buildings and it is very difficult to get them off public land. Despite fact that Sindh government was bearing billions of rupees burden on Rangers with sole aim to maintain law and order in the province but since its deployment the situation has been worsening day by day.