FIR registered against Indian pilots for bombing trees

FIR details damage suffered by 19 trees in the Indian airstrike

A First Information Report was filed by the forestry department on Friday against pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) for bombing and destroying trees in the Balakot area, reported Express News.

The FIR, registered against unidentified IAF pilots, also details the damage suffered by 19 trees after Indian aircraft "hastily dropped their payload".

 

Islamabad also plans to lodge a complaint against India at the United Nations, accusing New Delhi of “eco-terrorism”.

Indian warplanes bombed Jabba Top, a hilly forest area near the northern town of Balakot, about 40km from occupied Kashmir.

Climate Change Minister Malik Amin Aslam had said Indian jets bombed a “forest reserve” and the government was undertaking an environmental impact assessment, which will be the basis a complaint at the United Nations and other forums.

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“What happened over there is environmental terrorism,” Aslam said, adding that dozens of pine trees had been felled. “There has been serious environmental damage.”

Two Reuters reporters who visited the site of the bombings, where four large craters could be seen, said up to 15 pine trees had been brought down by the blasts. Villagers also dismissed Indian claims that hundreds of militants were killed.

The United Nations states that “destruction of the environment, not justified by military necessity and carried out wantonly, is clearly contrary to existing international law”, according to the UN General Assembly resolution 47/37.