Asif Mahmood

Criticism over the brutal cutting of forests in Islamabad is no longer limited to constructive accountability. It is increasingly turning into criticism for the sake of criticism, or rather criticism driven by stubbornness, ego, and fashion. What needs to be understood is that just as indiscriminate deforestation is a calamity, indiscriminate criticism carried out without thought, purely out of obstinacy or trend chasing, is no less a calamity. Those who understand the issue seek refuge from both of these extremist attitudes.

The CDA’s position is that it is cutting paper mulberry trees. This position is incorrect. In Shakarparian, not only paper mulberry trees were cut; many other trees were also wiped out. Contractors were sent into the forest with saws and they wreaked havoc. Clearly, this did not happen without reason. This happened with the connivance of the CDA.

Had there been no collusion, the CDA would have conducted a survey. Paper mulberry trees would have been identified. They would have been marked, and then the contractor would have been instructed to cut only the marked trees. Instead, trees were destroyed in a suspicious manner and entire areas were cleared. In some places, construction has already begun. This makes it clear that the objective was not to cut paper mulberry trees. The objective was these constructions. As a result, much more was cut along with the paper mulberry.

The Shakarparian forest is part of a national park, and no construction is permitted here. Yet hotels are operating there, a housing colony has already been built inside, and land has been illegally allotted to elite clubs. A trail that existed there has now been closed so that people do not come. Those who do go there are harassed by the police. There are full arrangements to keep people away. The government’s intentions regarding Shakarparian National Park are clear. This forest is now being turned into a concrete forest. We have shouted ourselves hoarse, but no one is willing to listen.

As if this was not calamity enough, even the criticism of this process has fallen prey to reaction, stubbornness, and ego. The real issue was left far behind, and in this confusion critics began extolling the supposed virtues of the paper mulberry, without realizing that they were effectively facilitating the CDA itself.

For example, a senior analyst, since junior analysts apparently do not exist, wrote that paper mulberry caused problems for only a few people, but by cutting it the entire city has been pushed into environmental disaster. This position is wrong to the point of absurdity and reveals how ignorant our analysts are of the most basic concepts of social science.

Paper mulberry causes respiratory problems. When spring arrives, hospitals fill with patients. This tree is the result of seeds imported from abroad and casually discarded, which ended up destroying the local environment. In the evening it releases a haze, birds do not nest in it, and it contributes to asthma, high blood pressure, and heart disease. A pollen count of 1500 is considered dangerous, but because of this tree Islamabad’s pollen count reaches as high as 82000. Last spring, more than two hundred thousand patients reached hospitals. Those who did not go to hospitals and treated themselves at home must also have numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Yet the senior analyst claims that only a few people are affected by it. The gentleman does not even understand the difference between a disease and an epidemic. A disease always affects only........

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