Dawn
-
15:04 Apr 24, 2026
The World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) on Friday highlighted “potentially irreversible risks” and “ecological degradation” from development work at the foothills of Islamabad’s Margalla Hills, calling for the suspension of all such proposed and ongoing activities pending a “transparent environmental review”. The conservation organisation’s call came three days after the Ministry of Interior announced that a new park, spanning 1,000 kanals, would be developed at the foothills of the Margalla Hills. “WWF-Pakistan expresses its serious and escalating concern regarding ongoing and proposed development activities in areas adjoining the Margalla Hills National Park, particularly within ecologically sensitive foothill zones,” the organisation said in a statement. It recalled that recent assessments published by WWF-P earlier this year on tree removal in the federal capital “indicate that large-scale vegetation clearance and infrastructure expansion are taking place across multiple locations”. These developm...