Make tree plantation a state policy: CII

Says tree cutting is forbidden in Islam, asks govt to declare it as criminal offense

ISLAMABAD : The Council of Islamic Ideology has said that tree cutting is forbidden in Islam therefore it suggested the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government to make inappropriate chopping of trees as criminal offence.

The CII has also suggested the government to transform countrywide drive for green Pakistan into a state policy. It should be made incumbent on all departments, offices, educational institutions and general public to plant trees and plants.

These recommendations were made during the tree plantation drive held at the CII headquarters on Monday where the CII chairman along with members planted over 50 trees on the premises.



Chairman CII Dr Qibla Ayaz while talking to The Express Tribune said that CII believes the government should impose heavy fine coupled with imprisonment on person found involved in illegal tree cutting. He referred to a number of ahadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in which cutting of trees had been forbidden in strong terms.

To support his argument he said, “Twenty kilometers area around Madina had been declared as safe zone where no one was allowed to cut trees,” he maintained.

He added that the council intends to promote tree plantation drive in the religious context and encourage religious seminaries to establish Quranic Garden consisting of different plants whose names are mentioned in the Holy Quran.



“The idea is for all religious seminaries to establish one Quranic garden each and every student in the religious seminaries should be given one plant each to look after and understand its importance,” he said, adding that it will help bring students closer to nature.

Dr Ayaz said that this concept has been very popular in the European countries where Biblical gardens are part of the landscape of diverse European areas for ecology promotion. He said that a famous Quranic garden exists in Pakistan – at Jamia Usmania in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.