Magistrate to take action against violators in park

Islamabad: A dedicated magistrate has been assigned to Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and now violators of the laws introduced to protect Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) will be prosecuted accordingly.

According to the details, the local administration has imposed Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for next two months in the national park, prohibiting bonfires and barbecues inside park. A large number of visitors come to the Margalla hills and some of them show disrespect to the laws introduced to protect the national park. But, unfortunately, the IWMB is still a toothless body that cannot take any strict action against them.

The lack of punishment resulted in many fire incidents that were either intentional or unintentional but all of them involved careless attitude of the visitors. Even a social media influencer staged a fire incident in the national park to make a video. The appointment of a magistrate will help prosecute the violators and give a clear and loud message to all the visitors that they will be punished if they will violate the laws. Apart from the checkposts set up by the civic agency, there are also park’s guards who are responsible to keep an eye on the forest areas.

These guards are known as Park Rangers and they have a strength of 50 to 60 personnel. They carry out patrolling in the area and take action if untoward activity is taking place in the area. The local administration on the request of the climate change ministry has also issued a notification stating “It has come to knowledge that BBQs, smoking, bonfires, burning and littering of garbage, littering of plastic, carrying flammable items such as lighters, charcoal, match­sticks, bottles of petrol/k­erosene and tree cutting is leading to loss of habitat, polluting water and clearing or breaking up of land for other purposes in the Margalla Hills National Park, which constitute violations of the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Ordinance 1979.” An official has said "The presence of a magistrate will ensure that the violators will not avoid punishment and it is necessary to implement laws in the national park in letter and spirit."