Access demanded to pine forests to harvest nuts

MIRANSHAH:

Tribesmen hailing from Datta Khel, Tehsil of North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have demanded of the government to allow them harvest the pine nuts worth billions of rupees.

They claimed that the crop was almost ready and it was their only source of income but still they were not allowed to go to their area despite their repeated demands.

Hundreds of the local residents staged a protest demonstration outside Miranshah Press Club for the second time in a week on Wednesday.

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“Pine nuts are our only source of income but our people are not allowed to go to their pine forests due to security reasons and the crop is just one week away,” said a local elder Malik Noor Muhammad while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that his people should be allowed to go to their forests and harvest the nuts which were in great demand in the national and international market.

“If we are not allowed then nuts worth billions of rupees would go to waste and it would impact the lives of thousands of families directly dependent on it,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2021.