WATCH: Pakistan sets 'new world record' by planting over 50,000 saplings in 60 seconds

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday led a tree plantation event in Gujranwala aiming to set a new Guinness World Record of planting 50,000 plants in one minute.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM's aide said that 52,040 plants had been planted in the presence of representatives of the Guinness World Records.

Some 12,500 students planted over 50,000 plants on an area between Rawalpindi and Chand Ka Qila bypass after sirens were played. As many as 47 drone cameras recorded the activity.

Aslam said that it was even better as the boys and girls had achieved the world record, adding that the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Gujranwala would take care of the plants till they grow into trees.

“The people of Gujranwala have given a gift to the country on the 74th Independence Day with a message to the country that 14th August should be commemorated as Green Pakistan Day and everyone should plant at least one plant on the day,” he said.

Admiring the spirit, he said students stood in 14km long queue to plant trees as part of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Clean and Green Pakistan campaign to plant 10 billion trees in the country.

Elaborating the prime minister’s vision to turn Pakistan green, the SAPM said planting trees is in line with the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), adding that Pakistan is also one of the countries which had been hit hard by climate change, and tree plantation was a need of the hour.

“Pakistan is leading tree plantation drive in the world while people of Gujranwala are leading the countrywide drive,” Amin Aslam said, adding that PM Imran had recently inaugurated the world’s largest Miyawaki urban forest in Lahore, which would help fight climate degradation.

The SAPM said these plants would not only fight global warming but also defeat ignorance of the political rivals in Gujranwala, who had claimed that the growth of trees, under the Clean and Green Pakistan drive, would invite wild animals into the city.

Referring to the PML-N’s 10-year rule in Punjab, he said it was the same political party that let 70 per cent of the green cover of Lahore erode in only 10 years, adding that the historic city was once known to the world as the ‘City of Gardens’.

About terming the green cover a security risk by the political opponents in Gujranwala, he asked them to shun ignorance and plant a tree of their share.

The PM's aide on climate change also planted a sapling. He was accompanied by Federal Parliamentary Secretary on Climate Change Rukhsana Naveed, Commissioner Gujranwala Division Zulfiqar Ahmed Ghumman, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Sohail Khwaja, Chairman PHA Gujranwala SA Hameed and Coordinator Punjab Clean and Green Program Amir Majeed.