The policy withdrawn by the PML-N government allowed the transport and sale of four million cubic feet of legally and illegally chopped timber in Diamer valley. PHOTO: SHABBIR MIR/ EXPRESS
The withdrawal of the timber policy has received mixed reaction. While many welcomed the move, others have criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for reversing his predecessor’s decision.
Elected representatives from Gilgit and Diamer valley are on the forefront opposing the withdrawal and blasted Sharif’s government for ‘depriving people of their rights.’ The PM, who is also the chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) council, scrapped the timer policy on July 5.
The policy was initially put in place by former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in his final days of office. It allowed the transport and sale of four million cubic feet of legally and illegally chopped timber lying in Diamer valley.
“This is nothing short of economic murder of the people of Diamer,” said G-B Minister for Works Bashir Ahmad Khan, who is also a resident of the area. A senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Bashir was one of the most proponent advocates of the policy, which was initially approved by the G-B Cabinet in 2011.
He is not the only lawmaker from the valley to oppose suspending the policy. “The government does not have the right to overrun the wishes of the people,” said Rahmat Khaliq, a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) legislator.
Backed by G-B Chief Minister Mehdi Shah, MPAs from Diamer are said to be planning a joint opposition against the federal government. G-B Assembly Deputy Speaker Jamil Ahmed urged the government to review its decision of suspending the timber policy. He said the right to owning timber in Diamer belongs to the people.
Environment experts and activists in Diamer, however, pointed out that influential people may use the policy as a cover to chop hundreds of new trees and put the forest base at stake.
Aftab Haider, advisor on forests in G-B, denies any such felling is taking place. “The timber policy was for the timber lying in the valley since a decade and not for fresh timber,” he said, asking the government to allow releasing the timber according to the wishes of the G-B government.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2013.
COMMENTS (10)
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There is a need to have an independent Commission headed by a Justice to probe all aspects of this issue.
Yeah lust for money is boundless, lets join hands and cut more trees
It is a matter of equity that there must be uniform rules all over the country for private forests. With this massive transit of timber and inability of the federal government to implement its own Cabinet's decisions let us ask the extremists to come forth and help us
I own a few trees inside my private house in Murree but I cannot cut to sell them because the Law says this will cause damage to the down country. Now with this decision of the Prime Minister as the chair of the Gilgit Council I have the right to go to the Supreme Court and get permission to cut the trees as is done by Gilgit Council.
Who says we have less forests. The Atlas of Forests 21012 by Mr Said Badshah Bokhari is clear that the forests have increased so there is no harm to undertake massive cutting of trees, just what is needed is also to amend the climate change policy as we are not able to implement it
The Government of Gigit Baltistan has approved a PCI for paying owners cash for not cutting trees and storing carbon, Now that the Prime Minister has decided to allow massive cutting in the the nest three months for the remaining forests , it is time to cancel this project and waste not money any more. The Prime Minister should also cancel the approved climate Change Policy that was celebrated as success by the PPP government during 2012. Let us be fair and call a spade a spade
Once upon a time there was a Sarhad Awami Forestry Etthad that provided independent views on forestry issues. It appears to be silent these days
SAFI is supposed to have a principled stand on this issue and must call an Assembly soon
Great news and precedence setting by Mr Mehdi Shah and Aftab Advisor to all of us. I own a small private forest in Hazara. On the same principle I am asking my men to start bribing who ever matters in Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and sell my private forests I damn care for the floods or avalanches as I have to suffer already at the hands of Mehdi Shah the great Chief Minister
The same logic is to lead not only the forest owners but all of us into disaster. The entire approval is riddled with untold stories of corruption form the start. The approval of the so called Working plan is a mystery and has untold stores of corruption. Secondly this is the time when all the people are already overflowing with loads of money paid as compensation of Bhasha Dam and is the best time to settle the issue. Going with the seam logic that the forests belonged to the people then let the owners get the benefit, the fact is that the locals are getting only 25 Rupees per Cubic foot as royalty while the same timber is sold at 400 per foot in Lahore.
The pone is that is the forest owners of Gilgit are free to do what they want form their forests then same is the case in Kohistan, Dir and Hazara. Even 80 percnt of forest in Murree are private or Guzara forests. So the PML premier should have a uniform policy for all provinces and let all forests vanish.
The best way out is to let the old directive of PM Bhutto applied to all uniformly and that is to allow only forest harvesting by government and do away with contractor system. Any way who cares let us send the message through to others in Kohistan and Punjab to allow freefall tree cutting in all private forests
Once for all let us kill all our natural assets and gift floods and hunger to all the provinces