CHITRAL: Broghil National Park’s benefits have not been passed on to the local people even after 11 years.
Speaking at a press conference here, Broghil Village Conservation Committee president Shahzada Sikandaul Mulk and representatives from Broghil asked the prime minister and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to take practical steps for preventing the national park from ruining.
Accompanied by Ikram Ali Shah, Taj Ali Baig and others, Shahzada Iskendar said Broghil National Park was established in 2010 and 12 villages were given to the Village Conservation Committee without taking the local people into confidence.
They said the government step had deprived the people of their right keep livestock, which was one of the main sources of their livelihood in the remote area.
They said that local people in Kaur Zone had been kept deprived of money generated through trophy hunting licenses, which was also a violation of rules and terms reached between the government and local community.
Shahzada Sikandar said the plan for Broghil National Park had been devised by certain persons sitting in Islamabad, who were not aware of the ground realities and environment and culture of the area.
He said that local people had not received a single penny despite the passage of 11 long years.
They threatened to quit the responsibility of providing security to the wildlife and precious ibex in the national park if their demands were not met forthwith.
بوروغل میں جو غیر مقامی لوگ وہاں جاکر زمینون پر قبضہ کر چُکے ہیں
We, the inhabitants of the Yarkhoon Valley, down to Neveshiru Sarooz, genuinely concerned the issue as the KP Forest Department’s one-sided decisions will surely affect our basic rights and share in the natural resources of the area. We have been neglected in the past. We’ll resist any such move which directly or indirectly affects our rights.