By Adil Zareef (Secretary SCN)
Sarhad Conservation Network (SCN) is not a personality driven one-man-show, rather it boasts of over thousand registered members locally and several Internet-based members. All decisions are taken by consensus of the executive council. It just happens that I am elected as secretary general at this time of history � and it is not a simple affair to rebut baseless allegations against a well meaning organization and its reputable members. SCN does not wish to lower its stature and get engaged in a frivolous war of words, with any one. Let the experts in the field step forward rather than carrying on a pointless media campaign of personalities.
However, SCN strongly rejects the allegation of being motivated by vested motives. Nobody can allege any wrongdoing on SCN�s voluntary and selfless struggle so far. SCN�s credibility has been unsullied until now, as it has taken position against strong and vested lobbies like construction and timber mafias. It is not an easy task where greed for money and brazen power can influence individuals and decisions. But we have made an attempt to cause a dent in this fossilized system - as SCN�s guiding principles are justice, fair play and a cleaner environment.
Had there been any �vested interest� or other motives, SCN would not have opened the debate nationally and internationally through its interactive website that has generated intense interest and outpouring of academic debate. SCN considers this innovative method its greatest weapon against ignorance and misguided policies. The readers can see for themselves what kind of comments SCN has received from a cross-section of public from far and wide.
Now allow me to set the record straight.
SCN took the step of publicizing the leveling of the botanical garden to construct a multistoried building for biotechnology by the university administration only after all endeavors towards finding an environmental friendly and mutually agreeable resolution had failed. The matter was raised after extensive deliberation within the decision making body. When the dice was rolled, SCN stood vindicated, as it emerged that the position we took was not simply an administrative matter, but had an academic/ environmental dimension, and most importantly a worrying basis of potential hazard to public life and safety as well.
Having worked extensively in the policy matters, pertaining to hospital waste and environmental health, it had dawned upon me that environmental health is the most neglected field in Pakistan. Whereas the public health golden principle, �Prevention is better than cure� still holds true, Pakistan is spending over $2 billion on the curative side by treating environmentally related diseases (WHO report 2003)
So where does one begin? SCN believes that advocacy and spreading awareness are its primary tools. SCN, working from its own pockets and with out any external support, unlike other NGOs, wants a public empowerment in issues that directly affects their health and lifestyle. SCN took on a powerful and entrenched system of the university campus; the cavalier policy to safety standards and concerns of environmental degradation in this project were identified and pointed out to the administration.
Letters were also sent to EPA to take cognizance of the potential health hazard of the new discipline but to our dismay, EPA demonstrated a �hands-off� attitude on environmental concerns. The response was tepid and at best evasive. Having written documents and exchanged policy matters with EPA for three years in official capacity, it was expected that they would have cleaned up their act. As the ever-deteriorating environment on the roads speaks for itself � EPA must catch up with international safety standards!
The one thing the VC is right about is that �SCN has taken the responsibility of being a standard bearer of environmental cause.� There was no other motive for SCN to take up this issue with the administration. SCN could not have felt more dissatisfied with this deadlock as it had exhausted more than three months in pursuing an acceptable peaceful resolution through meetings, letters, petitions, expert and professional intervention. All seemed to fall on the proverbial deaf ears. The administration appeared to be obsessed with the site alone to construct the fabulous citadel of biotechnology - although several other options were available and are still available.
SCN never made it an ego issue nor does SCN believe in getting into mindless controversies as it dilutes its energies to work on other more important tasks like (environmental) air pollution, which incidentally it wants to take up as the next campaign with public support. It will generate controversy � make the influential few its mortal enemies � but it will do what it is meant to do � inform the public about the deadly impact of air pollution on their health and lifestyles.
A word of regret about the purported �100-year-old� garden: The opening line of the reported piece by Mr Cowasjee in DAWN (30th Nov 2003) was an inadvertent mistake, for which SCN offers regrets. The report started with the history of Islamia College, the precursor to the UOP, in the beginning of the last century and then referred to the beauty of Peshawar University�s existing gardens and trees - an extension of the fabled college. It was never meant to convey that the disputed botanical garden was as old as Islamia College. (Whereas, the PU botanical garden is almost half a century old, which is the factual position that we have always maintained)
Therefore an attempt to exaggerate this mistake out of proportion is indeed in bad taste. To say that there never, ever existed a botanical garden in the university of Peshawar is an affront to anyone�s sanity that has been remotely associated with the university. A U-shaped open space next to the botany dept was constructed in 1950s by the renowned Dr Qizilbash, who was also the first chairperson of the dept.
SCN leaves it to the experts, Dr AR Beg, the oldest living botanist/ plant ecologist, who was lecturer when Dr Qizilbash was head and who did his doctorate from France and is also on that country�s expert list to give his version of the botanical garden from its origins till present day. After all, one should consider his fifty years of association with the field. (Statesman Letters, Nov 15) Another highly respected veteran, Ms Barkat Awan PhD is one of the earliest staff members of that dept who later became the principal of Frontier College for Women.
If one goes by the version given by the VC that �there is or was no botanical garden with the department� then the authenticity of the degrees of over 1000 botanists with PhDs, MPhils, MScs become dubious if the corresponding facilities of field laboratories: the botanical garden and herbarium were not there in the first place. So are we talking about a (ghost) botany dept with a ghost (non-existent) garden? SCN requests the experts from Botany to please come forward and clear this confusion created by the preposterous statement of the honorable VC! Moreover, SCN also urges the HEC to investigate this anomaly at its first priority as this revelation has greatly alarmed everyone.
The �facts� given by the VC about the proposed trees to be cut are misleading. The �39 trees� may not be exotic or unique but we are told that botany is not about beautiful or exquisitely rare trees and plants only. It is a science about plants, their species, type, history, age and host of other details, which is best understood by field botanists. So why not have an independent expert team of botanists from Pakistan, (not nominated by SCN or the UOP) to judge whether the botanical garden is real or fake, whether it provides the proper infrastructure, source and environment to conduct practical and laboratory work in the field. Finally, whether the removal of these �ordinary� trees will have any adverse effects, besides, will the loss of sunlight due to the proposed three-storied construction not affect hundreds of other plants species in the vicinity?
Furthermore, the report in The Statesman (4 Nov 2003) stated that the proposed block would also affect the greenbelt between the botany and computer science dept. SCN has received the information that the front arboretum (greenbelt), which is an extension of the botanical garden, will be affected if converted into a car park to accommodate 1000 students and another 500 teaching and auxiliary staff. Let independent experts find out whether it contains any rare species that the dept boasts of or not. Why were the additional trees in the arboretum marked for slaughter with red paint in the same manner like the ones inside the botanical garden?
The VC�s astonishing stance is not new founded. An SCN team along with some faculty heads, Dr Ahmed Ali (Faculty of Law) and Dr Shafiq ur Rehman (Environmental Science), visited the VC some time back to impress upon him the adverse impact of the building in the botanical garden. Even on that occasion, he attempted to trivialize the matter and made a mockery of the gardens of PU. As far as he was concerned, there was no garden in the botany dept. "This is a mythical garden" he insisted. "The university has to DEVELOP, and if it had to take up the gardens and the trees and the spaces in between the buildings so be it!� his supreme command thundered.
As the team sat dumbfounded at this sudden illuminating insight, I asked the VC if he could distinguish between the Khyber Road and the seat of learning? Certainly he has visited Oxford and Cambridge and he has seen centuries old buildings and trees and gardens. "Don't they need more space to develop?" I inquired. To this the Registrar, another �expert� in the field quipped: �But we need the space badly! " The VC concluded, "I somehow do not really reconcile to the architecture of the campus with huge U-shaped spaces in between the buildings! There should be buildings all along!�
Obviously there was no point of carrying on with such brilliant minds that were busy re-inventing modern architecture, design and new disciplines of education! One could only ask them: Just who gave them this right to disfigure and disturb the peace and tranquility of the campus? If they want to create a concrete monstrosity they should head towards the bazaars (or the hills of Khyber!) and make a multistoried sky rise to their hearts� delight. Nobody will stop them.
Have they not heard of new campuses in Punjab and Sindh? Why cramp the existing facilities if there is no space for further expansion? Dr Shafiq ur Rehman and Dr Rashid Iqbal have also argued against this site fearing the potential health hazard to the student body. The former�s statement about the environmental impact of the biotechnology in a populated area was well reported by the Statesman (4 Nov 2003)
SCN is delighted to hear the good news of �80,000 plants and trees planted under the stewardship of the present administration�. Let an independent committee determine the veracity of this fabulous claim. SCN also wants an independent committee investigate felling of precious sheeshum trees in hundreds, under the watchful eyes of the administration. SCN has noted with alarm (corroborated with some authentic official letters written by some dept heads and other officials to the administration for action against those offending officials) but this practice has continued unabated since the early 1990s and has now reached its peak. Apparently saving standing trees is not the prerogative of this most eco-friendly administration.
As far as the PU campus is concerned, let it be known that it belongs to the citizens of Peshawar, to the alumni and the new students - and the old and present staff of the campus - it belongs to all of us - those who were nurtured into adulthood under these shady trees - who had walked these grassy lanes � all who passed a sedate and tranquil period of their lives before coming of age!
No one dare snatch this from them or make it into another concrete wasteland at the expense of its graceful trees and gardens. The administration or anybody have no right to rob this part of history from the people of the province. The citizens will have to move and stop this carnage in the seat of learning. Let us not set a wrong precedent, if ever a place like the botanical garden is sacrificed for this ill-conceived and ill-planned biotechnology dept, it will be the beginning of the destruction of the entire campus.
SCN only makes people aware of the consequences of hazardous development � it cannot change policies. In this particular case, SCN is thankful to all the eco-friendly supporters, in Pakistan and abroad, organizations, friends and stalwarts, SCN delegation members comprising Gen (R) Jahanzeb Khan, Dr Nasir uddin Azam, Dr A R Beg, Ms Barkat Awan, Prof Zia ul Qamar, Prof Bashir Ahmed Durrani, Mr Zahoor Durani, Mr Haroon Rashid and Dr Rashid Iqbal who took a bold step of meeting the Chancellor, UOP, Governor Lt Gen (R) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah. Finally, we are grateful to the Chancellor himself, who listened to the arguments patiently (for two long hours!) and then took a principled and honorable stand. SCN does not consider its vindication a personal victory or an ego trip � rather it considers it as the first step towards a thousand mile journey.
Surely, the path is thorny and uncertain � but we are equipped with knowledge, armed with sincerity - and loaded with tons of goodwill and selfless commitment. It is regrettable that things had reached a limit when we had to stand up against the highest authority on the campus. But it was never a personal vendetta, will be or can be. It is hoped that the damage done to the campus will be rectified, and that we make it an example of environmental and academic excellence.
It is time the enlightened and green-loving citizens of Peshawar got united and became proactive members of society rather than being apologetic or complacent. After all, �In nature, there are no rewards or punishments - only consequences�.
(The writer is the secretary of Sarhad Conservation Network)
Address Herbarium, Botany Department
University of Peshawar
Peshawar, North-West Frontier
Pakistan
Contact Phone: [92] 91/ 921 6701, ext. 3042.
Correspondents Abdur Rashid, [email protected]
Updated Oct 2002
Notes Pakistan.
View staff
Person Herbarium
Code Institution Location
Naveed Akhtar PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar.
Tanvir Burni PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar.
Ghulam Dastagir PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar.
Musarrat Jabeen PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar.
Abdur Rashid PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar.
F. M. Sarim PUP University of Peshawar Pakistan. North-West Frontier. Peshawar
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