Timber mafia destroying Chitral's forests without check
CHITRAL, July 2: The president of ANP Chitral district, Syed Muzafar Ali Shah Jan, has demanded of the government to take stern action against the timber mafia who are destroying the forest of Chitral to amass wealth. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said that despite the tall claims of the government, the timber mafia had illegally harvested a large volume of 60 thousand cubic feet of deodar from the compartment No. 32 of Arandu and was waiting for its transportation to the national market. He offered to point out the place where the illegal timber had been stored in upper Langur Bat near Damil and said this cutting was a blatant violation of forest rules. The ANP leader said they will continue their struggle against the timber mafia who are bent upon the destruction of the environment with the support of Forest Development Corporation. He said that two months ago, one of his party workers in Arandu, Saeed Muhammad, was shot at by the timber mafia when he reported the illegal cutting of green trees to the forest authorities in the compartments 5 and 6 of Arandu Gol. He said that timber mafia has aborted all the efforts of the government to put an effective check on the timber mafia and it is due to this reason that the joint forest management committees (JFMCs) for the management of the forest have been rendered ineffective.–Zahiruddin]]>