Planting hope: Turning the landscape green

A group of nature-loving citizens plant 500 trees on Independence Day

KARACHI: A small flag was planted next to a plant, giving new life to the senile land. Citizens planted 500 plants in Burne's Garden on Independence Day to rejuvenate the muddy roads and their spirits. A four-year-old child mimicking the elders too dug the ground with a small spade in his effort to make the city green.

"This is another way of being patriotic and doing something for your country", said Nabiha Mohammad, a citizen present with her teenage niece, who was busy planting her fourth tree. Another planter Nazli Nizami talking about her adopted trees said, "We should come once a month to take care of these plants."

Naeem Shafi, one of the core members responsible for arranging this event, described himself as a tree lover who gets upset whenever trees are cut. "The very old trees in Clifton have been cut including the ornamental ones," he said. "So we thought of planting those types of trees here."

Mentioning the purpose of the activity he remarked, "We want to revive the old trees that have been replaced by the conocarpus trees."

"We are just planting white-flowers plants such as champas [magnolias] and chamelis [jasmine] in this portion," said Shafi while standing at Sobhraj Chetumal Terrace. The area was built in 1927 specifically for women and used to be known as Pardah Park. "We want to turn this portion into a ladies' park again," Shafi added.

Shafi discussed his plans to move the plantation campaign to other places. "We wanted to start off with places that are designated for plants so that maintaining them is easier," he said. "This way we can ensure that the plants are being looked after."

Tofiq Pasha, a gardener and another core member, said that the initiative started on social media and took shape when people showed interest in their campaign.  The Burne's Garden event group and a Facebook page named "I sure want my old Karachi back" was able to raise Rs500 per tree through the donations by the citizens.

Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui also planted a tree at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.