MANSEHRA: The residents of various villages in Kaghan Valley on Saturday demanded of the provincial government to revoke the national park status of Malkandi, saying it was a densely populated tourist destination where human lives and livelihoods should not be compromised for wildlife conservation.

“I stand with the local people, who are seeking revocation of the national park status of Malkandi. I will raise this issue in provincial assembly and take it up with the chief minister,” MPA Munir Hussain Lughmani told an open forum held in Malkandi area of Balakot tehsil.

The residents of Paras, Kamalban, Jarad, Mahandri, Pattandas and adjoining villages and localities turned up in a large number at the forum organised by forest department. They raised slogans to demand immediate abolition of Malkandi’s national park status.

Mr Lughmani said that more than 1.4 million feet of windfall wood had been dumped at the forest in Kaghan Valley for years but government was yet to evolve strategy to collect and market it.

The participants of the forum said that it was unfortunate as almost all other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had no national parks but Mansehra had five such protected areas, four of which fell in the limits of Balakot tehsil.

“Work on five small hydropower projects is under way in Balakot tehsil alone, particularly in its picturesque Kaghan Valley, depriving people of water resources and displacing local communities. Now the number of national parks has increased to four from the two that already existed,” said a local.

The villagers said that due to the national park status of their areas, they could not even cut trees for construction timber or firewood.

The deputy secretary of forests department, Syed Haseebul Hassan Gillani, heard the complaints and assured the participants that their concerns would be addressed.

“We are at the policymaking stage, and I assure you that the issues raised at this forum will be addressed first. The newly-developed strategy, which falls within the ambit of the law, will then be enforced,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2026