The first two weeks of January 2022 have been significant for the conservation of Margalla Hills National Park. The law-abiding and nature-loving citizens were overjoyed on the long-awaited verdicts putting a full stop to the encroachments into the Margalla Hills National Park by the influential individuals, government, and state departments. In a landmark verdict, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the sealing of Islamabad’s Monal Restaurant illegally built in the centre of the Margalla Hills, the core part of the National Park. The Court has also ordered the CDA to take control of the golf club built on encroached land of the Margalla Hills National Park. The Court has also declared illegal the military’s claim to over 8000 acres of the Margalla Hills National Park. This is the second consecutive landmark verdict that the IHC has delivered this month. The first pertained to the illegal construction of the Navy Sailing Club on the banks of Rawal Lake – another part of the Margalla Hills National Park.
It is believed that the rightful verdicts of IHC are likely to dent the vested interest of the influential individuals and the rape of protected areas by the government and state departments. It might have a wider impact on society in general and encourage citizens to come up to raise voices for the protection and conservation of natural resources and green cover. It would also give courage to the lame ducks in the administration and judiciary to take a stand against the encroachers whoever they are.
IHC shall not stop here. More verdicts of the same kind are needed to undo the wrong that was done following the precedence of Monal Restaurants. Right from Daman-e Koh to the last corner in the Margalla Hills, many restaurants and resorts have been illegally constructed. They need to be checked by the IHC. The communities living in the MHNP area have also encroached on government lands, and have constructed buildings. Islamabad High Court has to take comprehensive notice of all the encroachments. Otherwise, the present two decisions would be taken as the popular ones.
Right from Daman-e Koh to the last corner in the Margalla Hills, many restaurants and resorts have been illegally constructed.
Huge violations have been committed in the federal capital by changing the land use. It has severely affected the green nature, especially in Zones IV and V. More than 500 natural streams have been covered by the land-grabbers in the connivance of the black sheep in the Capital Development Authority and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA), and the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI), the heaven of realtors. A high-level commission including environmentalists and experts shall be formed to look deep into the helm of affairs.
It is now a dire need to make Islamabad’s Master Plan public. The proposed commission shall mark the illegally occupied land of the city and make it public. So that the citizens could know the names of the land-grabbers and their ‘miracles of connivance’. Just a random visit to the residential sectors reveals the illegal encroachments of parks and green belts by the influential. A thorough survey of the federal capital urgently needed to have some estimates of the land grabbed and by whom. Surely, all the land-grabbers will be influential ones, the individuals and the departments. No ordinary person could dare to do it. The court has rightly pointed out that “all laws apply to all”, individuals or institutions.
This is quite unfortunate that no one listens to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) that is now, after the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, limited to protect the green cover of Islamabad only. Whether it is ensuring measures against pollution and waste management or protecting the green cover, PEPA has failed to come up to the expectations of the citizens. Like many other government departments, PEPA has buried its mandate in the graveyard of its own rules and regulations. Many allegations and rumours have surrounded its offices. Islamabad High Court shall also take notice of PEPA’s failure of managing the ban on plastic shopping bags, and giving safe passage to the vested interest against the landfill site, and several others inefficiencies and allegations against the PEPA officials. They are now going to submit a report on the damage that illegal construction has caused to the national park. IHC shall form a citizens’ commission to submit a report on the damage done by the PEPA inefficiencies that encouraged increasing encroachments by entities and individuals belonging to both private and state institutions. Respective ministries need to ensure the efficiency of their departments, CDA or PEPA, or the state departments.
Last but not least, the case of six-lane Margalla Avenue, starting from Sangjani and passing through the Margalla Hills National Park, shall not be overshadowed by the noise of Monal and other demons. Do mind that our faulty 1979 Wildlife Ordinance speaks only about access roads, not six-lane Avenues and Expressways. This is ironic that the real estate agents are making some videos showing the fast-track construction work on Margalla Avenue in sheer contempt of court.
The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert. He can be reached [email protected]. He tweets @EmmayeSyed