Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: February 26, 2025 | 
Rina Saeed Khan, former Chair of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, at the Margalla Hills.
An asymmetrical clamp with a combined area of 17,386 hectares, stretching from Chattar to Sangjani and rolling down from the tallest peak of Tilla Charouni with a height of 1604 meters down to the settlements surrounding Rawal Lake is the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP). Part of the Himalayan Range, MNHP was declared the third-largest national park of Pakistan in 1980. This stretch of hills that stand tall as the guardian angels of Islamabad, a purpose-built capital city established in 1960s, came into existence long before; around 40 to 50 million years ago when the subcontinent collided with Asia, resulting in the rise of the Himalayas. This same stretch of land is now experiencing a ramming of a different kind. Territorial, bureaucratic and commercial interests are jostling with environmental concerns, fundamental question being; who owns the guardian angels Margalla hills of Islamabad and whose jurisdiction should prevail on MHNP? Perhaps at a philosophical level, the English poet William Wordsworth, while describing the Lake District answered it very expressively: "(a sort of national property) in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy."
Map of the Margalla Hills
A national park is an area designated for conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural or developed land that is protected and owned by government and almost always accessible to the public. In 1969, IUCN described a national park as an area where ecosystems are not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, including plant and animal species, geomorphological sites, and habitats of special scientific, educational and recreational interest, or a natural landscape of great beauty. According to IUCN, once such an area with a minimum size of 1,000 hectares is declared a national park, highest competent authority of a country must take steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation as soon as possible, and effectively enforce the respect of ecological, geomorphological, or aesthetic features that have led to its establishment; and allow visitors to enter, only under special conditions. With only 14.8% of the world now safe from human adverse actions, it is more important than ever to safeguard such national parks. While imprudent exploitation of natural resources wreak havoc all over the planet, these national parks provide the perfect safe spaces for wildlife. It is critical to minimize impacts of air, water, noise and light pollution in such protected areas.
Pangolins are among the most endangered animals in the world.
Pakistan has 37 national parks in total with the oldest national park being Lal Suhanra in Bahawalpur, and the largest being the Central Karakoram in Gilgit-Baltistan. The recent dispute around MHNP, established through a notification in April 1980 under section 21 of Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation & Management) Ordinance, 1979, came in the spotlight when Islamabad High Court ordered the demolition of Monal and La Montana, famous eateries and the Naval Golf Course that existed within the park parameters. This led to different interest groups coming up with their own versions on the ownership of the national park. Capital Development Authority (CDA) claimed that the park was under its purview while the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), notified under the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, claimed that it is the rightful custodian of the park. Since the controversy broke, army authorities also claimed their right on some land documented in the old revenue records as Military Grass Farms. Other than this, over 30 villages are also part of MHNP. To add to the confusion, some senior forest service officials of the forest department in Punjab claim that the Margalla reserve forest’s 33 compartments, though located in the capital territory, are owned by the Punjab Forest Department and were leased to the CDA in the 1960s for 20 years. After expiry, the lease was renewed for another ten years. Since then, the lease has not been extended. However, the operational control of the reserve forest remains with the CDA, which pays a lease amount of rupee one per acre per annum to the provincial forest department.
Trail 2, Margalla Hills, Islamabad
Rina Saeed Khan, ex-Chair of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, which has since been dissolved and a new interim board with Secretary from Ministry of Climate Change as its Chair put in place, has been very vocal about how vested interested and conflicting narratives and egos have done a disservice to the park. “IWMB was established in 2015. I became involved with the Ministry of Climate Change when there was a fact-finding inquiry taking place, led by the Ministry, to look into the issues of Islamabad Zoo in 2020. Afterwards the Ministry offered me to be part of the Board and then its Chair. I reluctantly joined, but we quickly reinvigorated the Board and hired management staff to streamline the Board’s operations,” Rina, a well-known environmentalist, said: “IWMB was constituted under Section 4 of the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation, and Management) Ordinance 1979, empowering it to enforce and regulate wildlife conservation efforts within the MHNP. Its authority deriving from this legislation, empowers it to address the unique challenges facing the national park and its inhabitants.”
Seemi Ezdi (third from left) and Rina Saeed Khan (extreme right)
“It was in 2021 that Monal Restaurant went to the court against CDA, when the authority asked the restaurant to vacate the place as its fifteen year lease had come to an end. The restaurant went to the Supreme Court and got temporary relief. It was at that time that our complaint against the high-handedness of CDA was also lumped with this case. CDA was creating difficulties for us from the start and claimed that they owned the park land. We had a competent IWMB Board in place at that time. For the Naval Gold Course, we made a land swap deal. Things started to fall in place with a new Chief Justice and a very favorable judgement for IWMB but the CDA was obviously disappointed. They started harassing us and threatening us to get out of the zoo, which we were using as a sanctuary for injured wild animals to be released back in the park after rehabilitation,” Rina adds.
Monal Restaurant
Since the demolition of Monal in September 2024, the trough war between the IWMB and CDA gained momentum. Things got so heated that eventually IWMB was dissolved and the Ministry of Climate Change put in the interim board with a few officials from the Ministry and CDA as members. The Ministry has since advertised for interested individuals to apply for the board membership.
“It was sheer commercial greed that these commercial operators wanted to pursue. They wanted to build more restaurants and chalets on the land of the MHNP. They started with small kiosks and grabbed the whole ridge building more terraces. They were charging public even for the view. This was totally against all legal, ethical and environmental standards. The Ministry and Environmental Protection Agency kept warning against these malpractices but the businesses continued their expansion. We were open to having some basic tea stalls for visitors but these restaurants were putting a lot of burden of pollution on the protected land.” according to Rina.
Through an official letter dated December 31, addressed to the Chairman CDA, Rina highlighted serious concerns regarding interference of the field staff of the CDA in the ongoing restoration work at the site of demolished Monal and La Montana restaurants. “They instructed IWMB staff to stop their work while they were busy planting trees at the site. Our staff informed them that this work enjoyed the protection of their Supreme Court orders. Ultimately, to avoid confrontation, the IWMB staff halted their work. When asked for written instruction(s) for the orders, they could not produce any written orders,” Rina said. “Despite clear directives of the Supreme Court, the field staff of CDA repeatedly obstructed the efforts of IWMB to carry out necessary restoration work at the site. It is important to clarify that the work being undertaken by IWMB included restoration and stabilisation for plantation and revegetation. This work was essential to integrate the site as part of the national park,” She adds.
Rina Saeed Khan with the staff of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board at Trail 5.
Monal’s structure was set up by the CDA and rented out to the eatery in 2006 on a 15 years lease. The lease expired in 2021 which led to a dispute on the ownership of land. Subsequently, Monal started depositing partial payments to both the CDA and the military, since it was considered that the eatery was built on military grass land. Eventually, the claim of it being a military grass land was rejected by the Islamabad High Court, which directed against commercial activities in the national park. CDA on the other hand alleged that there were unconfirmed reports that the IWMB, under the guise of restoration after demolition of Monal, wanted to construct kiosks at the site. CDA claimed to have evidence and photos that walls were being constructed at the site.
Rina terms the formation of the new IWMB a bureaucratic capture by a nexus of commercial interests and bureaucrats. “They don’t care about the national park, wildlife, pollution or the fact the city is getting affected by climate change. We just experienced a drought for three months. It is critical for us to save our green cover and that too with indigenous verities. You need to understand that even an effort to beautify a natural area is counter-productive. A natural area needs to be protected and preserved by planting indigenous varieties of trees. These bureaucratic organizations unfortunately lacked that level of understanding of how to protect, preserve and restore a natural park land,” according to Rina.
Leopard rescued from DHA
One can only hope that all contesting entities can focus on the greater good which is the preservation and protection of the national park which gives Islamabad its distinct natural character compared to most other national capitals of the world. The beautiful MHNP is critical for Islamabad not only due to its natural wealth of flora and fauna, but also as an equalizer for the mounting burden on the environment of Islamabad as the city’s infrastructure and population continue to grow. “Our position is very clear, MHNP is our buffer zone and works as the lungs of the city, so leave it alone,” Rina concludes.
It is scandalous that the dedication with which Rina Saeed Khan has been struggling to preserve the Margalla Hills National Park, is now open for vandalism of money-grabbing predators, with no concern for the environment of either the Park or Islamabad.
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