MURREE, as I remember in the 1960s, used to be a beautiful hill station. There were less concrete structures and more greenery which one used to enjoy.

With very little hustle and bustle and almost nonexistence of commercial activity, a walk on the Mall used to be a pleasure with giant-sized dahlia flowers all along, while going up towards the GPO.

The GPO used to be a central place, and stood imposingly, all alone. Later massive and grotesque concrete structures started coming up around it, for which century-old beautiful pine trees were chopped in the middle of night and dynamite was used to break and level off the mountain side. What a shame, no one was there to stop.

Beyond the GPO, on the opposite side while going to Jhika Gali, there were no hotels and one could have a good view of the valley below.

I had the good fortune of travelling on Angori Road as well, right up to the 1990s when the expressway was not constructed. What a pleasure it used to be to walk through the thick lush green forests, most of which have been annihilated in the name of development!

Further down on the same road towards Islamabad, unscrupulous landgrabbers have encroached on Shamlat-i-Deh (communal land) and constructed huge apartment buildings. In the process, trees and bushes running in millions were cut, while the government slept.

I rarely visit Murree now as it is very disturbing and do not want to obliterate my good old memories of the Murree that it used to be.

M. Khaled

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018