IHC declares allotment of land to military in MHNP illegal

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday said that prima facie the allotment of 8,000 acres of land to the military directorate in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) was illegal.

Hearing a petition regarding encroachments and illegal constructions in the Margalla Hills National Park, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah directed the government to review a notification issued in 2016 regarding the allotment of land to the military directorate.

The court while addressing Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan said that no constructions should be allowed to continue in the MHNP and if any such activity was taking place, it should be done away with immediately.

The bench also dismissed a petition of Monal Restaurant, seeking to withdraw the plea.

The court remarked that on the one hand, the federal government was working tirelessly to cope with the climate change issue but on the other hand, the national park had been left in tatters.

The IHC chief justice said that there was no rule of law in Islamabad and it was the responsibility of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) to identify illegal constructions, but it had confined itself to trail-4, trail-5 and trail-5.

The court said that the environmental protection agency (EPA) had been rendered helpless.

The court raised the question that the allotment of 80,00 acres of land to an entity was not legally permissible. The court asked how the federal government allotted the land to the military directorate and urged the government to save the future generation.

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The IHC chief justice said Prof ZB Mirza has written books on the environment issue but nobody bothers to ask about him.

The judge said that the government should take immediate measures to save whatever was left in the MHNP jurisdiction.

Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Khan told the court that the issue was not of a private nature and assured the court that he would give his advice to the government on the matter.

IHC Chief Justice said the federal government should conduct a survey and stop every kind of construction in the MHNP.

“Shouldn’t the court issue an order to make public the names of those who have encroached upon the land in the national park?” the bench observed. Expressing annoyance, the IHC chief justice said that neither the EPA nor the IWMB was doing their duty and the Capital Development Authority, over the years, had done nothing except for distributing plots.

The judge said that not by poor or weak but all influential people were occupying the land in the national park and destruction was under way on the other side of Islamabad bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Justice Athar Minallah remarked that it was another story on whose desire Monal Restaurant was built, adding that CDA only facilitates the powerful people.

The court adjourned the hearing in the case till December 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2021.