ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) on Tuesday has written letter to Secretary Interior to initiate legal action against violators harassing Islamabad Wildlife Management Board staff, damaging national park and property of the board.

In the letter, the Ministry mentioned that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials have reportedly removed fixed gate of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) from Trail-4 to make forceful entry without any legal authorization.

Moreover, IWMB staff have also been harassed, pushed and abused by the CDA staff while performing their duties today dated July 6, 2021. A complaint in this regard has also been forwarded to SHO Police Station Kohsar for registering First Information Report (FIR) against the culprits (Evidences attached as pictures and video clips), it further said in the letter.

The Ministry had requested the Secretary Interior that the complaint submitted by IWMB on above issues should be looked into and appropriate legal action may please be taken against the officials involved in the above mentioned act.

The CDA Environment Wing staff had allegedly removed precious compost soil (natural fertilizer) from Margalla Hills National Park without any higher authority approval and manhandled Islamabad Wildlife Management Board officials on resisting their activity.

Chairperson Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) Rina Saeed Khan took to Twitter to inform the citizens and stakeholders about the alleged violation of the National Park conservation and protection laws.

She wrote on her official Twitter handle, “CDA sent staff inside Trail-4 to forcibly remove leaves and earth for use in their nurseries. This is against IWMB rules. You cannot remove leaves/plants from national park. When we stopped them they broke our gate! They have been bullying our staff for months.”

She further mentioned that the CDA staff had broken the IWMB’s signs installed on Trail-4. “This is how they treat IWMB, the legal custodians of MHNP. If you want to save the national park from being gobbled up by development please retweet and help us!”

The IWMB chair also shared picture of Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Ordinance, 1979 highlighting the functions and powers of IWMB in rules 3 and 4 respectively.

As per the mandate given through the legislation, one of the functions of IWMB as per rule 3 of the Rules is to “take all policy decisions, draw plans, programmes and execute them with regard to protection, preservation, conservation and management of wildlife, including the zoos in the Islamabad Capital Territory, ” which meant that all matters pertaining to management and preservation of MHNP is the domain of IWMB.