Taking notice of the government’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday summoned the secretary of climate change to submit the record of the project.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard the case pertaining to tree plantation on the banks of rivers and canals.
The court reprimanded the Sindh government for not submitting the reports and ordered it to plant trees along lakes and highways. The Chief Justice remarked that the affairs of the Sindh government were beyond comprehension, adding that “Sindh is the only province whose affairs are run in a different way.”
The Chief Justice called for not paying travel and dearness allowances to officials who came from Sindh, adding that contempt of court notices would be issued to officers, and once received, the officers will lose their jobs and be sent to jail.
During the hearing, Justice Gulzar asked a representative of the Islamabad administration where it has planted the 500,000 trees. “You must have planted all the trees in Bani Gala. Trees are being cut down in Islamabad. Crooked trees have been planted on Kashmir Highway. There is no beauty in the trees planted,” he remarked.
Addressing the KP environment secretary, the Chief Justice said that the entire KP environment department are thieves, “and you are the head of the department..you should be sent straight to jail,” he stated. “Naran and Kaghan have become heaps of garbage. There are no trees around lakes and thousands of trees have been cut down in Kumrat. I have seen the trees being cut down myself. No one should be allowed to cut them down,” he added.
