THIS is with reference to the report ‘Karachi losing mangrove cover due to land allotment, Senate panel told’ (Oct 12) about the important visit of Senate Climate Change Standing Committee’s chairperson along with other senators to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Wetland Centre at Sandspit.

They were given a briefing by WWF Pakistan’s director-general. The report also carried an inspiring picture of the group planting mangrove saplings. I do hope that the senators saw this crucial visit as more than just another photo opportunity for them.

There is a glaring contradiction in the words and actions coming out of different government departments, and we, the taxpayers, are paying the price.

On the one hand, the mangroves are supposedly protected by the Sindh Forest Department, while, on the other hand, the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the provincial Board of Revenue (BoR) are allotting the same ‘protected’ forest land to random buyers.

This glaring illegality makes a mockery of the fact that we actually have federal ministries for climate change, forests and environment, which prefer to look the other way.

The devastation of mangrove forests has been going on over a decade in this vicinity. About 12 years ago, two members of the fishermen community, who were trying to save the Sandspit mangrove forests, were murdered by the land mafia that continues to encroach upon the so-called ‘protected’ forests of the Sindh Forest Department. This tragedy was also reported in the national media.

I recall that after the murders, Forest Department officials had claimed that they had access to real time satellite images of all forests, including the mangroves in Sandspit, and that such destruction would not happen again. Because this has gone on unabated, it is obvious these were mere statements for public consumption with no fear whatsoever of accountability.

I hope the Senate Climate Change Standing Committee will call for accountability of the Forest Depar-tment, and initiate inquiry into the illegal allotment of protected forestsby KPT and BoR.

At least this much is owed to us, the taxpayers, and to the families of those who were martyred simply becasue they were trying to save our mangrove forests.

Sohail Osman Ali
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2023