Forest arsonists may face terror law
DOUSING THE FLAMES: Workers of the K-P Forest Department busy in extinguishing a fire in Upper Dir. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday chaired a high level meeting to review the recent fire incident in the mountain forests of the province.
The meeting was also attended by Provincial Minister for Environment, Ishtiaq Urmar, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, chief secretary and IGP.
During the meeting, a detailed briefing was given to the chief minister about causes of the raging forest fires in the last one month.
The CM was informed that in most of the cases, dry grass and bushes caught fire and it didn’t damage trees. A total of 283 incidents of forest fires were reported in the province during the last one month from May 23 to June 16.
Over 89 per cent of these incidents are because of ground fire, 20 per cent surface fire and four per cent crown fire in which fires reached the tree top.
The meeting was informed that about eight of fire incidents were reported in reserved forest, 23 per cent in protected areas, five per cent in guzara forests, 12.5 per cent in communal forests and more than 50 per cent in private forests.
During all these blazes only 22 trees in government forests were burnt as per the report filed by the Forest Department.
About the reasons, it was revealed that 20 per cent were caused due to human involvement, nine per cent due to natural reasons and 71 per cent due to unknown reasons.
About 56 FIRs have been registered in different districts for intentional arsons while in 32 incidents, accused have been identified.
Police has arrested 11 people while search for the remaining is in progress.
During the firefighting, three persons embraced martyrdom including a fireman of Rescue 1122.
The meeting paid glowing tributes to those who lost their lives in the line of duty.
They also discussed purchase of a special aircraft for dousing the mountain fires in remote and inaccessible forests in the province.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Mahmood Khan said those who are involved in arson are terrorists.
He stressed legislation for trial of those involved in forest fires so that the accused could be tried under anti-terrorism laws.
Chief Minister also ordered that pictures of those accused of forest fires be released to media in order to name and shame them.
He also stressed that arson should be considered a non-bailable offense. Mahmood ordered collective efforts by relevant departments to prevent forest fires in the future.
He also instructed meeting participant to chalk out plan for effective monitoring of mountains and forests to prevent such happenings in future.
Similarly, special posts of Rescue 1122 would be set up in the difficult to access hills to ensure timely response.
The CM assured provision of all resources on priority basis for the implementation of measures to prevent forest fires.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2022.