KARACHI: “I have been taking care of them for about 10 years now and these trees are like my children so don’t ask me why I’m cutting them. I’m only carrying out orders,” said one of the gardeners of Bagh Ibne Qasim on Thursday when asked why he and other men were chopping the cool green conocarpus trees bordering the garden.

The gardener added he had heard that it was all being done for security reasons. “The Bilawal House is close by. It could be the reason,” he said.

Meanwhile, a few police guards stationed outside the Bagh seemed most distressed. “We used to sit outside the Bagh on the footpath in the cool shade of these trees. It is so hot and our shade has been taken from us. Now we are camping on the road divider. Hopefully, the trees on the divider would be spared,” said a police guard, who said he and his colleagues were stationed in the area to provide security to the Bilawal House.

When contacted by Dawn on the issue of chopping the trees, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s director general for the parks and horticulture department, Tahir Durrani, said they weren’t getting rid of the trees but only trimming them.

“We are only chopping off the branches. The trunks are still there and will sprout more branches and foliage in no time,” he said.

“It is more like trimming or shaping of the trees. This is a city, not a jungle. We can’t allow wild growth.”

The DG for parks also said that he had done the same at the Benazir Park not so long ago. “The trees there are now more manageable and the path looks neat and clean,” he said.

Asked if the chopping was in any way connected to the digging and construction work around Bagh Ibne Qasim, he said absolutely not. “This has nothing to do with that.”

But when reminded that it was getting to be quite hot and by this action of theirs the KMC was taking away the shade, he said: “Well, these are bordering hedge kind of conocarpus trees only. They aren’t really providing shade. “It is not a very strong tree and turns brittle if allowed to grow too tall, so it must be controlled. We don’t want it breaking and falling on anyone’s head in the strong sea breeze winds, do we?”

Horticulture Society of Pakistan’s Salman K. Khan agreed with the KMC official’s take on the need to trim the trees. “Conocarpus trees do need to be trimmed often, and especially during pollination season,” he said.

“The thing is that the tree, which has been planted in abundance all over the city, loses its green appeal at the time of bearing fruit. Then its pollen too is known to cause allergic reactions such as asthma in people so it is better to trim it around this time of year. But maybe they have chopped more than they ought to,” he added.