Upon failure of people at the helm of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take tangible action against its officials for taking over Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) visitor information centre illegally, top court has been urged to issue directives for protection, preservation, conservation and management of the Margalla Hills National Park.
Advocate Supreme Court Umer Ijaz Gilani filed the petition on behalf of Chairperson IWMB Rina Satti making Chairman CDA, Chief Commissioner ICT, Chief Police Officer of the Capital and Federal Government through Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change as respondents in the matter.
Gilani urged the top court to direct respondents to take meaningful steps for protection, preservation, conservation and management of wildlife and in the preservation, conservation and management of the Margalla Hills National Park. Advocate Gilani disclosed that The Islamabad Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Act 2023 was approved by by both Houses of Parliament but has since mysteriously disappeared.
He also requested the Supreme Court for directions to respondents to restrain from obstructing the Board in the discharge of its duties besides, directives to the CDA to immediately vacate the Information Centers on Trail 5 and 6 which it usurped on the 15th of February, 2024. The top court was further urged to direct the CDA to keep restrained from usurping the Animal Sanctuary maintained by the Board in the foothills of the Margalla.
The petitioner also sought the top court directives for IGP Islamabad to ensure proper investigation of the complaint filed by the Board’s personnel against those who usurped the Information Centers on Trail 5 and 6 on the 15th of February.
The petitioner prayed the Supreme Court directives to respondents to fulfill their duties and ensure strict compliance with the laws related to the environment and the wildlife. The petitioner prayed the top court to inquire into the fate of “The Islamabad Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Act 2023 which was approved and later on mysteriously disappeared.
According to detail expressed in the petition, on 15th February, 2024, 50 to 60 men belonging to the CDA engulfed the Visitor Information Centers located at the edge of Trail 5 and Trail 6 and the Field Office in Kalinjher. They came without any prior notice or intimation and took the Wildlife Board’s staff by surprise. They destroyed the locks, broke in and forcefully dispossessed the staff. They also threw all the belongings of the Board including display screens outside the building. This was a blatant act of harassment and usurpation by CDA against which the Board’s registered their protested; but no heed was paid to their pleas.
Later that day, one of the staff members of the Board, Mr. Yasir Hussain, Wildlife Guard BPS-07, who has witnessed this incident of usurpation, filed a complaint in Police Station Margalla F-8. However, in blatant violation of the criminal procedure, no action was taken by the police upon the same – ostensibly because the police was reluctant to do anything CDA which is headed by the same individual who also holds charges as the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad.
The petitioner said that the present situation is inevitably linked with the ills of massive concentration of powers – a situation which is bound to arise when a single individual holds the posts of Chairman CDA and Chief Commissioner ICT. This situation, which is not only illegal but also detrimental to the fundamental rights of the city’s people and its wildlife, in itself must be examined by the apex Court.
He further expressed the CDA’s takeover of the Board’s Information Centers is illegal because it was complete without any notice and without any justification. In 2015, soon after the Board became functional, it was duly issued letters by CDA allotting these buildings to it for the purposes of performing functions under the Ordinance of 1979.
it is worth mentioning that these structures were not built by the CDA, to begin with. They were built by the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit organization. And since the takeover, the Board has also made considerable investment towards their maintenance.
Petitioner further said the CDA’s coercive usurpation of the 2 Visitor Information Centers and the Field Office at Kalinjhar is not only illegal and arbitrary, it is interfering with the Board’s performance of its statutory duties. This, in turn, is going to be detrimental for citizen’s enjoyement of their fundamental rights. Thus, the need for this urgent plea seeking intervention by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
“The incident of the 15th February, 2024 is not a stand-alone case of CDA’s transgressions against the Wildlife Board. On 30th January, it has been reported in the newspapers that the CDA’s Board passed a Board Resolution resolving to take over the land where the Board is now running its Wildlife Rescue Center. This would be a blatant violation of the Islamabad High Court’s judgment in IWMB v. CDA as well as the relevant statutes”, the petitioner said as petition copy available with TLTP.
With heading in the petition “Starving the Board of Funds”, the petitioner said, “As a result of machinations by CDA, the Board is being starved of funds and has been functioning under extremely difficult circumstances. The government only pays salaries and covers some operation costs, but these are not enough for the proper maintenance of the National Park and the Wildlife Rescue Center”.
According to another heading of the petition, “Sabbotage of the PC-II of the Visitor Information Center in Margalla Hills”, the petitioner described that during 2021, the Board submitted a PC-II to the Planning Commission through Ministry for construction of the Visitor Information Center in Margalla Hills. He added this too was blocked on account of the machinations of the CDA whose contention is that the land of the National Park (where erstwhile zoo was located) belongs to the CDA.
Alleging for sabbotage of “The Islamabad Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Act 2023”, the petitioner claimed that perhaps the most scandalous and haunting indication of the Respondents’ mala fide conduct towards the Wildlife Board is what happened to the bill titled “The Islamabad Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Act 2023”.
He said this Bill, which would have substantially resolved the Board’s challenges regarding funding and strengthened it regulatory power in the National Park, was moved in the National Assembly by the then Minister for Climate Change Honourable Sherry Rehman.
“The Act was passed by the National Assembly with a majority as well as the Senate in August, 2023. It shows up as approved on the websites of both houses. However, after having been passed by the Parliament, the Bill has been mysterious disappeared! It may be the first time in the history of Pakistan that a Government, after having gotten a Bill passed from both Houses, simply forgot to do anything about it. This inaction is clearly a fraud on the Constitution as well as contempt of the institution of Parliament. The fate of the Act of 2023 must be inquired into by the highest constitutional court of the country and those whose machinations led to the disappearance of a Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament must be held accountable”, the petitioner submitted.
“Since the Board is a statutory body vested with the protection of fundamental rights, and since the Act had serious implications for the future of the Board, the disappearance of the Bill amounts to an actionable wrong”, it is stated. “It is worth noting that as a land development authority, CDA simply does not possess either the expertise or the right vision for managing wildlife related matters. If the CDA and its “Environment Directorate” were up to the task, why would the legislators have set up the Wildlife Board, to begin with? Yet, for reasons which might be related to commercial lobbies, the CDA keeps interfering the Wildlife Board’s domain”, the petitioner said.
