What has been going on in Islamabad is being carried out by a proper mafia, with chainsaws and tractors.
ISLAMABAD: I have been living in Islamabad since 1985. It used to be a beautiful city, the streams were clean and the whole city was entirely green. Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore. There was a time when the cutting down of trees in Islamabad was still only done sporadically and citizens could complain to the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) forest guards about this. The guards then used to stop any illegal cutting down of trees.
However, over time, and this year specifically in the last month, the timber mafia that had been getting stronger since the previous government’s tenure, wiped off all trees from all the green belts of the city. This is sad and highly alarming. What is even sadder is that no one has even tried to raise their voice against this. Not the media, not the residents, not the political parties.
I agree that there may be more pressing needs and problems that the country may be facing right now, but the impact of such activities on the environment is what our future generations will have to face. According to certain quarters, since there is a severe shortage of gas/electricity, the poor are forced to cut down trees. This is untrue as people with such needs only shave off the branches of trees. What has been going on in Islamabad is being carried out by a proper mafia, with chainsaws and tractors and with the help of CDA personnel. I urge the media and citizens to raise their voices to stop this.
Umayr Masud
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
