Chopped down trees: DHA residents roughed up for taking a stand

Housing authority official says development involves compromises, denies mistreatment

KARACHI:

Officials of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) manhandled residents and journalists on Saturday when they gathered at West Avenue in Phase I to inquire about the 50-year-old trees recently chopped down by the authority.

DHA is in the process of widening the main road when it reportedly chopped down the trees, much to the dismay of nearby residents.

On Saturday, a group of residents gathered at the site where the authorities had chopped off at least five trees. The group was complaining about the chopped down trees when an unidentified man clad in brown shalwar kameez mistreated a female complainant, Nighat Mir, who is also one of the founder of Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.



The DHA security officials, also present on the spot, damaged the camera of a private news channel covering the event and temporarily detained its cameraman. The authority's head office lies just across the site.

Mir recalled how the unidentified man shoved her before shouting at the cameraman to shut off his camera. "We were standing peacefully. Why did they do this?" asked the visibly shaken woman.

An construction worker, employed by the company hired to widen the road, said they were given permission by the DHA to cut down the trees. He said that they have cut down three trees. Mir insisted, however, that at least five trees, including Neem, Lignum, Acacia have been axed, which were 50 years old.



Earlier, the residents had gathered at Mir's house to decide their next course of action after learning about the tree-chopping incident. They decided to go to West Avenue to hold a silent protest of sorts and assess the damage en masse. They pointed out the spots where the aged trees once stood and remembered how a Neem tree once hung over the roundabout, and a green median which has now disappeared.

While the dozen or so residents were reminiscing, DHA officials arrived and manhandled them. The residents then walked up to the DHA head office to register their complaint but the security guards closed the gates and called for backup. They also seized recording equipment of the cameraman from Business Plus. By the time this report was filed, residents were still at the DHA office waiting to meet the security head to demand return of the recording equipment, which contains footage of the manhandling.

Call to do more

Trees in DHA Phase I were planted by the authority itself in the 1960s, recall residents. However, today the authority does not water a single tree or deal with the termite-infested ones, they complained.

At Mir's house earlier, options of filing a petition in court and registering an FIR were also discussed but the residents agreed to use social media to further their cause.

Architect Tariq Qaiser, a Phase-I resident for 18 years, said he moved into the locality only because of the trees. "The bottom line is that there are very few trees left in Karachi. There was a record heat wave last year and concrete steps [to aid forestation and stop deforestation] should be taken now," said another resident.

Amra Javed of Shehri, a pro-environment NGO, suggested replicating the 'Chipko Movement' of India where people cling to the trees to save them from being chopped down.

DHA spokesperson Lt Col (retd) Rafat Naqvi denied that any mishandling took place near their head office on Saturday afternoon. "We respect our residents. How can our vigilance staff mishandle anyone?" He explained that residents were stopped from making a video as permission is required for making a video.

Regarding the chopping of trees, he said DHA is committed to development, and for that, there are compromises that have to be made. "If DHA has chopped one or two trees, it will plant twice and thrice as many," he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2016.