ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: Shadmeena Khanum, an environmentalist with the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF), on Wednesday afternoon looked at a leveled field in the Margalla Hills National Park with a broken heart.

Some trees and bushes were cut and land leveled along Trail 5 by the Rangers while establishing a firing range to train its personnel. The cleared patch was roughly as big as a football field.

The range was along one of the tracks leading to a shrine and a fresh stream frequented by trekkers.However, the national park survived another scare when the HWF pushed away the Rangers who had occupied a patch in the hills on Friday.

“But the damage has been done,” said Shadmeena Khanum, the project director of HWF, who has been looking after the park for the last three years.

The foundation has been a partner with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in conserving and managing all the 13 valleys in the Margalla Hills. Its jurisdiction extends up to Sinyari and Balima, west of Pir Sohawa Road. That also explained the organisation’s tussle with the Navy which had also encroached on the national park, and protest with the army that had added another 100 feet of a green belt to the GHQ land.

The HWF said being armed forces did not mean that they could break the law and not be criticised - just coming in with their men and equipment, clearing trees and bushes and installing themselves in the middle of the national park.

“We are pleased with plantation drives in F-9 Park but that’s not how national parks are cared for. They are protected.

Margalla Hills are not a wasteland that CDA or the military can use for any purpose. There is 50 times more nature to conserve in the hills than in F-9 Park,” said Director HWF Vaqar Zakaria.

According to the HWF, and also confirmed by officials in the environment wing of the CDA, Trail 5 in the Dara Jangla valley is unique compared to the rest of the 12 valleys in the hills.

The HWF said all the species of trees (more than 60) in the Margalla Hills could be found along Trail 5 alone. More than 80 species of butterflies have been photographed and eight species of dragonflies documented along Trail 5. Margalla Hills are the starting point of all fauna and flora up to the extreme north of the country.Dr T.J. Roberts, a recognised authority on the wildlife of Pakistan, documented 300 species of birds he found in a single year in the Guide to Birds of Pakistan.

“This is the widest valley in the hills that are narrow where access is difficult because of dense trees and thick bushes,” said Vaqar Zakaria who also appreciated the previous government of Pervez Musharraf for breaking the tradition of the army and giving up the Dara Jangla (Trail 5) for people to learn and appreciate wilderness in its natural state.

However, according to an official in the Rangers, the men had no place to train. “Rangers were requisitioned three years back.

We need a place where we can train and stay in shape to deliver. The authorities concerned should provide us facilities, including proper accommodation where men can stay warm in sub-zero temperatures and not shiver in tents,” the officer said, clarifying Rangers were building an obstacle course and not a firing range.

The Rangers quit the activity when HWF informed them that they were intruding into the protected areas.

CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajjid said they had no knowledge of the activity.

Vaqar Zakaria maintained that ‘arm-chaired’ environmentalists who created uproar over a single tree cut were silent when dozens of trees were chopped in the Margalla Hills every day. People should realise that park conservation does not mean bulldozing open spaces and planting trees, he said, adding more than 20 to 50 years old trees were being cut to make fire for heating.

“Regeneration should be natural. The emphasis is on protection, not rehabilitation, to bring back the park to its original and natural state,” said the director HWF who felt that conservation of the national park needed more attention than thought.