MUZAFFARGARH: Kot Addu Saddar police registered a case on the complaint of irrigation officials against 123 people for involvement in starting a wildfire in the Leshariwala Jungle some days back.

The fire had burnt large tracts of the forest, spread over more than 16,000 acres, killing hundreds of birds and animals.

Irrigation Executive Engineer Sarfarz Khalid said he went to the police station on the direction of his high-ups and registered a case against the suspects.

On the other hand, many suspects were still busy stealing wood and cutting trees from the forest and selling it to brick kilns.

Civil society, lawyers and journalists held a protest against the wildlife, fisheries, forest and irrigation departments for not taking action over the deadly fire. The activists performed plays on the theme of forest and held a demonstration in front of the Kot Addu Press Club. They chanted slogans against the ruling party parliamentarians and alleged that both were responsible for the fire.

Activists Fazal Lund, Khadim Hussain and Fazal Gurmani addressed the demonstrators.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: The WWF-Pakistan has launched an investigation into loss of rare wildlife in the fire at the international Ramsar site or wetlands near Taunsa Barrage in the Leshariwala Jungle, a representative of the organisation told Dawn.

Wildlife Department Dera Ghazi Khan Deputy Director Naveed Tariq said the wildlife department had no proper census or record of wildlife in the internationally recognised sanctuary.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. There are 2,400 Ramsar sites in the world and Taunsa sanctuary is among the 19 sites in Pakistan.

WWF representative Munawwar Abbas Chaudhry told Dawn there were a large number of rare hogs, deer, wild cows, pigs, turtles and reptiles in the sanctuary .

Avoiding the mention of a tussle between two influential political families of the area, he said the sanctuary had been facing a loss of flora and fauna since 2018 as the influential people had made their own no-go areas in the jungle.

Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari said the irrigation department was the custodian of the sanctuary and it did not give land to anyone on lease for agriculture purposes.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021