ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: They say national parks are national treasures. However, that seems to be forgotten in Islamabad, where tree cutting has become unprecedented, uncontrolled and free for all in the Margalla Hills National Park.

“First, it was the residents in the villages but now all of Islamabad is helping themselves to woods,” said the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF) which has been managing the park in collaboration with the Capital Development Authority for the last three years.

The CDA had sanctioned 55 guards to protect the forests but only 22 of them are on the ground and their effectiveness is quite low, said the foundation, adding the guards preferred appointments in the city over duties in the hills.

In some cases, it is not just the villagers but also the CDA staff who cuts trees in the protected park or look the other way. Elaborating how CDA staff was effective only when a tree was cut along the avenues, director HWF Mohammad Vaqar Zakaria said: “The impression we get from CDA is that forests in the Margalla Hills are a legitimate source of fuel.”

This was confirmed by a senior CDA official who requested anonymity because of the restrictions on government employees to go on record when he conceded that staff appointed to protect the woods sometimes cut the trees themselves for fuel.

“There are unrecognised villages in the foothills without basic necessities of life. And wood from the Margalla Hills is a livelihood for the poor,” said the official.

However, forest guards in the field explained that fines were not enough to stop people from chopping trees. “We catch them red-handed and take them to the police station. But they are back in the jungle faster than us,” said one of the forest guards, Sajad Ahmad who caught an illegal tree cutter almost every day.

The three HWF guards remain helpless as they have no legal authority and depend on CDA forest guards for enforcement.

Vaqar Zakaria said areas behind the Faisal Mosque were losing trees fast especially to kiosks and makeshift roadside restaurants. Cyclists and motorcyclists laden with chopped wood coming out of tracks from behind the mosque before sunset are common sights.

“Areas adjacent to heavily-degraded Nupur Shahan are where the hills are heading. Rata Hotar is already feeling the pressure shifting from Nurpur Shahan where there are barely trees left,” said the director HWF, explaining how plantation schemes by NGOs and CDA were of little value since for every sapling planted over a dozen were being chopped.

According to HWF, the national park was fast losing acacias (that burnt well), berry trees, Zizyphus and Kachnaar. These are being replaced by wild bushes harmful for flora and fauna.

Spokesman for CDA Ramzan Sajid said the forest guards ensured that important trees were not cut. “There is no massive cutting. There are no trees that can fetch a lot of money.

Some areas behind the Air Force and Navy colonies were cleared and trees were trimmed by the forces for better visibility because of security reasons,” he added.