THIS is apropos your editorial ‘Loss of forest land’ (June 24). I wish that a prestigious newspaper like Dawn should have done a little more research before denigrating a welfare allotment of martyrs on the basis of dubious environmental concerns.

A thorough check would have revealed to you that the land in question has no forests and has already been encroached upon by influential waderas as their farmhouses and deras where all kinds of illegal and unlawful activities happen.

And it is worth noting that the army had never exerted any pressure on the Sindh government to grant the land, it being a voluntary act of the Sindh government whose timing does not inspire confidence even with army circles.

The influential landlords have already pressed the lawyers’ community into service for preserving their illegal possessions which should have been snatched in the first place by the Sindh government and converted into a forest reserve if environmental concerns so demanded.

It sure would be hard for your paper to publish this view contrary to an editorial but the truth must be shared.

Brig (r) Raashid Wali Janjua

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2015

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