ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over perceived foot-dragging and indifference on the part of the Sindh government over retrieval of large pieces of forest land leased out to private developers.

A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was also visibly disturbed over the lack of measures taken to protect forest cover and instead launching of new housing schemes.

The court took up a petition moved by Qazi Ali Athar, an attorney specialising in environmental issues, who requested the court to restrain the provincial government from introducing any scheme on land with forest cover for housing schemes or townships, or for the purposes of land distribution, land reforms or any other schemes or policies that amounted to deforestation or land possession.

When Justice Ijazul Ahsan wondered how the Bahria Town was handed over forest land in the province, the petitioner informed the court that the tycoon concerned was provided 11,000 acres of forest land in Karachi and another 4,000 acres in Nawabshah.

At this, the chief justice expressed disappointment at the provincial government’s inaction to recover forest land and observed that if the functionaries concerned did not want to work they should leave the country because they were not capable of running the government.

Petitioner says forest land in the province should be declared protected areas

In his petition, Mr Athar had questioned the official step in January 2012 of de-notifying the status of forest land in favour of the Sindh government’s land utilisation department, Federal Board of Revenue, as well as the 2010 summary of the chief minister allowing the conversion of “forest land” to “revenue land”.

The petitioner alleged that the-then president ordered conversion of forest land to revenue land, a step which was declared as illegal by the Sindh High Court. Similarly, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah failed to conduct a satellite survey of the land despite the high court’s directives.

The petitioner requested the court that all the 2,858,748 acres of forest land in Sindh be declared national asset and a protected zone. The forest cover should never be allowed to be depleted under any circumstances. Therefore all the allotments and leases involving forest land should be cancelled and vacated from all kinds of land grabbers through an indiscriminate operation, the petition said.

The petitioner also highlighted the June 19, 2015 policy of the Sindh chief minister for allotment of 9,552 acres of land among families of martyred army soldiers on an ownership basis.

For that purpose, the chief minister had issued directives to the chief secretary as well as the forest department to move a summary for approval of change in the status of land in Shikarpur district and other areas.

The petition alleged that a piece of land from the Nasri Forest in Shaheed Benazirabad district measuring 3,410 acres was given to the said tycoon for the development of his third mega project — the Bahria Town, Nawabshah.

Likewise, in Karachi thousands of acres from the Kathore Reserve Forests and green belts were allotted to the Bahria Town, Karachi.

This countrywide grabbing of forest land was in continuity to their previous projects on the statutory protected forests of Rawalpindi and Lahore, the petition said.

It regretted that Pakistan was a signatory to the millennium development goals 2005 of the United Nations and was supposed to increase forest cover from 4.2 per cent to 15pc but deforestation was continuing apace in northern areas, Azad Kashmir, Margalla Hills of Islamabad, Punjab and Balochistan. In particular, the riverine forests of Sindh are continuously facing such threats under the nose of the forest department.

The petition called for constitution of a judicial commission to investigate the organised deforestation or degradation of forests, A national forest commission could also be set up on a permanent basis under the supervision of the ministry of climate change for monitoring and conservation purposes.

The petition also requested the court to restrain the Sindh government from leasing forest land to private or local landlords or political/influential persons. It also invited the attention of the court towards the deforestation of mangrove forests on the coasts of Sindh.

The court should also issue instructions for ensuring sustainable management of natural forests in the country, the petition contended, adding that the provincial government should be asked to take measures to restore green banks of the Indus, irrigation canals and streams.

The petition requested the court to order the provincial government to cancel the Sindh Agro-Forestry Policy of 2004 and instead formulate a comprehensive forest rehabilitation and protection programme with consultation with all the stakeholders.

The apex court postponed further proceedings till Jan 9 and said the hearing would take place at the Karachi registry of the court. The bench directed the Sindh government to furnish a reply before that hearing.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2019