HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit handed down a landmark judgement on the preservation of Nagarparkar district’s Karoonjhar hills on Thursday, calling for its protection in conformity with international guidelines.

The SHC ruled that the “entire range of Karoonjhar Hill is one monument” under the law and it cannot be divided into pieces and portions to make some part of the range available for excavation.

The provincial Mines and Mineral Department doesn’t have jurisdiction over the hills since it is a “protected heritage site” and not available for mining or excavation, it said.

“There is thus a unanimous and united call for importance of imminent legislation and its enforcement on this burning issue of destruction of mother nature and here in our country such ‘ecocide’ being committed at sweet will of those sitting in power corridors and ‘mining permits’ is an evidence of such will,” declared order reserved earlier after the hearing.

Warns action against officials if any mining permit issued

In the 15-page judgement, authored by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui, the SHC said. “Karoonjhar Hills is not available for excavation of any nature whatsoever, except excavation for discovering historical monuments and, that too, after following international guidelines”.

“Its importance lies in preserving the entire range and not permitting mineral excavation in between as it will not only destroy beauty at the conclusion of the mining process but will destroy existing topography,” said the judgement.

It told the Forest and Wildlife department to take immediate measures to restore the sanctuary for all those animals and birds whose habitat was Karoonjhar hills.

The court ordered the department concerned to maintain a record of plantation for every hill in the range and to monitor the growth of plants and trees. The department was also told to place a report before the court every three months.

The bench ordered the Tharparkar deputy commissioner Tharparkar and the SHO concerned to ensure that no commercial activity of any nature, which could be described as mining or excavation, is carried out within Karoonjhar Hills. Justice Siddiqui wrote the “Sindh government shall ensure these range of mountain be maintained as ordered and required under law.

“In case any mining permit or action or inaction is found to have been triggered or issued or if any private mining work is seen and found in progress, Secretary, Mines and Minerals, and all officials concerned shall be primarily held responsible and be taken to task, besides others,” it said.

The court called for “resurrecting every Jain temple” in its original form with the assistance of experts. Otherwise, the order warned, the officials responsible for protection of these heritage sites will be held responsible.

The SHC said statues that were declared as “world heritage” should be made available so that these relics were preserved in original form.

The bench consisted of Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan.

The court heard two identical petitions — one of them was filed by Munawar Ali Sagar and others in 2021 and the other by Shanker Lal Advocate this year. Sajjad Ahmed Chandio and Ishrat Ali Lohar were appointed to assist the court.

Zaheerul Hassan Minhas appeared for the company whose leases were cancelled. Rafiq Ahmed Dahri, an assistant advocate general, also appeared.

Karoonjhar history

Dilating on the history of Karoonjhar, the court said “existence of Karoonjhar Hills goes almost as far back as the history of this globe.

“This globe is only four to 4.5 billion years old. There are certainly quite a few ranges older than this range, but the present one cannot be ignored and undermined because of its history.

“Range of (Karoonjhar) mountains be­­longs to the Achaean period. Karoonjhar Hills form part of Runn Kutch wildlife sanctuary and were supposed to be protected by the Wildlife Department. The Sindh Wildlife Protection, Pres­ervation, Conservation and Manage­ment Act (SWPPCMA) 2020 prohibits damage under present enactment.

“The Act restricts interference in natural structure, quarrying, causing or fashioning of natural stones, exploration and exploitation of mines and minerals in a desired manner.”

“Jain religion followers considered this [Hills] range as a sacred place and constructed hundreds of temples within planes and curves of then Karoonjhar Hill in such a way that entire range was found full of scattered Jain temples and there were monuments of worship/statues.”

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2023