Probe sought into KP forest fires

PESHAWAR: The members of the civil society have sought a probe into the forest fires in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The forest reserves are already under stress in Pakistan owing to demographic explosion and climate change. Already ranked as the top high-risk nation in the region, the loss of huge forest tracts and fragile ecosystems is an example of existential threat to Pakistan’s future,” said a leading environmental journalist Ahmad Rafay Alam.

He said that the ongoing political divide served as a distraction with scant media coverage to alert global and national agencies for a robust response.

He added that blaming the infernos on dry weather, local enmities or accidental grass fires, amounted to shrugging off the government in the face of grave ecological and man-made challenges.

“This is certainly not a routine event. Promising inquiry and action against arrested offenders does not inspire public confidence,” commented Engr Usman Marwat, Chairman Hayatabad Council City Metropolitan.

“Honest forest officials and representatives of local communities have alleged connivance of top-ranking KP representatives working hand-in-glove with land-grabbers and timber mafia. The backers and handlers behind this blaze deserve to be held accountable through transparent investigation and prosecution,” a local journalist demanded.

“The unseen sinister and criminal hands causing environmental terrorism must be exposed, apprehended, punished and made examples for posterity and ensuring the rule of law. This crime against fragile ecosystems, the environment and people of KP is too grave to be left to departmental inquiry alone and let it be buried under bureaucratic cover up,” said Hamid Afridi, a development expert based in Islamabad.

“The numbers of fires simultaneously, in different regions are not incidental, nor the deaths of innocent souls nor injuries to the brave firefighters and forest officers a routine affair to be forgiven,” said Mansoor Ahmad from IAP.

They asked the Peshawar High Court to take a suo moto notice and make the KP government accountable for failing to preempt the fire incidents and a total lack of preparedness to take timely measures.

“The people of KP are urged to sign a petition seeking an investigation by an independent commission comprising a panel of experts from Pakistan and international agencies to fix responsibility and recommend future courses of action and preventive measures with clear guidelines for the forest staff, local authorities, LEAs, communities,” said Ali Gohar Advocate.