THE thick green forest has been reduced to slim rows of trees. Heavy machines — bulldozers, tractors, shovels, cranes and excavators — have levelled the ground and are now parked side by side. New roads have been carpeted. Vegetation has been removed from acres of land and a large ground has been metalled. Heavy military and civilian vehicles are parked here.

Military troops have taken over the place and started patrols. Checkpoints have been set up and no irrelevant person or vehicle is allowed to enter the area. A guard, wearing a khaki raincoat over his military uniform and standing alert in the heavy downpour, signals me to stop as I turn my car from Garden Avenue to the edge of the Shakarparian picnic spot in Islamabad.

Know more: After 7 year gap, Pakistan Day to see military parade in full glory

“Where are you going?” he demands.

“I am going ahead,” I say, trying to avoid details.

“You want to see the preparations?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, give me your department’s card,” he says.

I show him my official press card.

“Also, give me your National Identity Card and I will check your car before you go further.”

He opens all the car doors one by one, then the boot, searching for anything “dangerous”. Once satisfied that I am not hiding any explosives, he allows me on.

I enter Pakistan’s new parade avenue. The newly asphalted road is a luxurious drive.

On my right, a huge parking space has been created along the Islamabad Highway. On my left, a long row of iron stands has been erected along the road, presenting the look of a stadium. Sofas and chairs will be placed here on the day. After a few hundred metres on the newly paved road, I find another road turning to my left. I turn along it.

A huge arena is ready. Pakistan’s armed forces will parade here on March 23, after a gap of seven years. In front of the entrance to the venue, a large high iron board has been placed — apparently to display the Quaid’s portrait. Several tents have been installed in front of the spectators’ enclosure. A small stage in the middle has also been set, probably for the salute.

In the middle, flower beds are ready for Pakistan Day. Further to the left, dozens of tanks, armoured military vehicles and trucks have been parked, tanks barrels and bodies covered with sheets to protect them against the rain. But some men continue working despite the rain.

This is the fourth parade avenue Pakistan has developed in four decades. Until the late 1980s, the parade used to be held at the Racecourse Ground in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Then the parade was moved in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad to tag it with democracy. In the early 2000s, it was shifted to the Pakistan Sports Complex as the annual event had become a hassle for the citizens of Islamabad. But after 2008, when terrorism attacks increased in the country, particularly against the army, and when former army chief retired General Pervez Musharraf was ousted from the presidency, the event was abandoned. This avenue, where many industrial and trade exhibitions have also been held in the past, was in fact tipped as the new parade avenue in 2007.

The new Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Raheel Sharif, was the one who approved the decision to resume the annual military parade. The authorities made the decision public after US President Barack Obama watched the Indian forces display their might on India’s Democracy Day on Jan 26 in New Delhi. Since then, heavy machinery has been working in this calm and green area of the capital.

Officials in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which is in charge of the development and of maintaining the city’s pleasant environment, say the project will cost up to Rs248 million. They deny the removal of trees on a large scale.

“We have released funds but the responsibility of developing this site lies with the Frontier Works Organisation,” CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid said. “Only shrubs have been cleared, but we have planted a lot more regular plants in the place of removed shrubs.”

Reports from the official meetings, however, suggest that thousands of trees have been cut down in the one square kilometre area since 2007.

“The forest here was a major source of Islamabad’s cool environment. Whenever we entered this place from the dusty and polluted Rawalpindi, this area would give us quick relief with its clean and cool breeze,” says Kashif Ismail, a 35-year-old resident of Rawalpindi who crosses the new parade avenue on the highway daily to travel to his office. “The military parade is our pride, it must be held every year at a grand place,” he observes. “But a clean environment is also necessary and the authorities should develop a new forest all around this ground. It will add to the beauty and scenery of the parade avenue.”

Published in Dawn March 10th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play