TAXILA: The powerful timber mafia continues to wreak havoc as they have cut down precious trees planted decades ago in Hazro town of Attock.

According to local sources, the timber mafia chopped a large number of eucalyptus trees systematically alongside Hazro-Gondal road, allegedly with the support of field officials from the forest department. It must be noted that this area is the home town of former special assistant to the prime minister on climate change Malik Amin Aslam Khan.

Sources said that cutting of trees in an organised manner in Hazro is not a secret anymore.

“So far, at different places, the mafia has cut down 11 eucalyptus trees, resultantly inflicting harm to forests,” said a local.

Sources in the forest department said that precious trees, which were planted several years ago are now being stolen with the help of field officers as the wood is used to make furniture. It must be observed that only well grown trees were being chopped down while the less expensive trees were left, which shows that the trees were not stolen for domestic purposes. They said that the forest guard, block officer, range officer and district forest officer had allegedly been covering up the issue as no legal or departmental action was taken.

Local villagers have raised their voices this cutting of trees. The illegal tree felling degrades the local environment, weakening the banks of water channels and decreasing the bird population, they said. Livelihoods of local people will also suffer because trees were a great source of fodder for livestock and honey bees. These things are a source of income to the people, said another villager.

Azam Khan, a resident of the area told this reporter that the timber mafia was active once again and several very large trees with diameters of around 4 feet had been chopped down. Some of the trees chopped down were between 15 to 20 years old and if sold in the open market, would fetch a hefty price between Rs15,000 to Rs25,000.

Saleem Alizai, another resident of the area said that illegal chopping of trees is going on under the very nose of the forest department. “These people are cutting down large trees at night following which the remaining parts of the trees are burnt down to avoid detection,” he said and claimed that people with political connections have been involved in the illegal cutting of trees.

Munaza Peerzada, president of a local non governmental organisation (NGO) said that the Forest Act 1927, which was almost 80 years old, had become obsolete and needed revision to meet the needs of the present time. “There are many loopholes and weaknesses in the act that are exploited by mafias,” she said.

“Deforestation at such a level has also caused degradation of watersheds, landslides, flooding, silting, extinction of thousands of species, soil erosion and the greenhouse effect,” she said.

“Various research studies prove that forests influence climate change in many ways, particularly by absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide,” she added.

When contacted, Divisional Forest officer Ishfaq Basheer Bhutta said that he was not aware of the chopping of trees along the road. He said that he would probe the matter and strict departmental action would be taken against the officials found guilty of negligence and legal action would be initiated against those involved in illegal chopping of trees.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2023