Tree felling: Protesters block KKH in protest against ban on selling timber

Claim the practice has been their source of income for centuries.


Our Correspondent June 16, 2014
At the jirga, the Kohistanis gave the government till June 14 to lift the restriction but received no response. PHOTO: FILE

KOHISTAN: People from Kohistan blocked Karakoram Highway (KKH) near Komila on Monday in protest over the ban on selling timber. They warned they would next block the main road leading to China’s border if the government failed to lift the ban.

Last week, elders of Upper and Lower Kohistan held a jirga in which they asked the provincial government to allow the sale of wood cut from their land which was just rotting by the wayside. The ban had been put in place under the Green and Clean plan for the province, which envisages increasing forest cover during the government’s five years.

At the jirga, the Kohistanis gave the government till June 14 to lift the restriction but received no response.

At the protest, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s provincial vice president Sarnzeb Khan said the people of Kohistan rendered sacrifices to take ownership of their forests from the government during the 1970s. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would not be allowed to usurp those rights again,” said Khan. People have been selling trees from their own forests to earn a livelihood since centuries, he added.

Also at the rally, Tehreek Suba Hazara leader Prince Fazal Haq said the people of the district were always treated as “the stepchildren of the state – underdeveloped and poor.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Gul Badshah added, “The government wants to deprive us of our legal right to earn money off our own property.”

If the felled wood is not allowed market access by Friday, traffic on KKH will be suspended indefinitely, said Badshah. The protesters later dispersed peacefully after two hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2014.

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