Chitral's environment issues discussed

KURAGH (CHITRAL), Oct 10: Environment seems to be not an issue of big cities any more, as people in remote and scenic valleys free from pollution are also facing many complicated issues with their water, forest and even air they breath becoming under strain. [caption id="attachment_4798" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="Participants of the seminar. AMK"][/caption] In this regard, a seminar was organized at the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School here the other day in which the speakers highlighted various issues confronting the local environment and people’s responsibilities to protect their environment. One of the speakers, Islamuddin, referred to biodegradable and unbiodegradable contents in the environment having adverse impact on our health like asthma and said neither our society is concerned about it nor steps had been taken for the dumping of wastes properly. He gave the example of ‘free land’ in Argentina and Singapore for dumping of industrial and other wastes and emphasized using shopping sacks instead of plastic bags. “We need to nurture ‘controlled environment’ now to get safe from the problems emerging from environmental degradation. Its strange that we born and live in the land that is our mother and have to go back us on its lab, do injustice with it” he said. Coordinator ABWKU campus Chitral Dr Inayat Ullah Faizi while quoting Surah Al-Nur, Ayah 41 said God Almighty has warned the humanity in general and Muslims in particular that He will punish those who disturb the life in water and earth; with a purpose that they could retreat from what they do”. While talking about the 66 endemic species in Chitral, he said environment was not in the agenda of the world before 1972 though it is traced back in the 3000 years tales and mythologies of Chitral. He corroborated the concept of pure and impure environment with reference to a ‘tale of bird’, balance and imbalance in environment, food chain and disturbance in the eco-system and implication of impure acts on environment and life while diving deep into the history, culture, values, customs and genius of Chitral. Dr. Abdul Karim made a presentation on ‘environment and health’ and discussed the concept of health and diseases, determinants of health and environment. While speaking about the interaction of agents, host and environmental factors he also focused on the internal and external components of environment and their bearing on human health in society and emerging disease. The faculty members of biology at AKHSS – Javeed Farooqi and Syeda Sarwat – spoke on the biodiversity of Chitral. Ali Nigah Jan, Lecturer of English, also made a presentation entitled “integration of environment in education” with a purpose of sharing tips how to integrate environmental education in teaching learning process in schools and colleges with reference to different subjects. A group of students presented a drama on the social and environmental pollution in society in the context of different age groups of society. A group of known poets of Chitral; Mr. Naji Khan Naji, Gul Nawaz Khaki, Iqbal Uddin Sahar, Zafar Ahmad Sagar, Zafar Ullah Parwaz, Zakir Zakhmi , Habib Ullah Shad shared their poetry contextualizing with physical and social environment of Chitral. At the end of the seminar shields and awarded were given to the winner’s of the District essay writing competition in Urdu and speech competition between AKHSS Kuragh and Chitral’s students.– Alhaj Muhammad Khan    ]]>