ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: The Margalla Hills National Park has battled encroachments and lost land, landscape and nature after it was declared a protected habitat in 1981.

From stone crushers in the west to military set-ups in the foothills of the hills gradually expanding their fences into the park, the protected area has felt the pressure of growth from inside and outside its borders.

Once again the national park is fast losing a new fight as the village of Noorpur Shahan is expanding unchecked.

The original dwellers have registered complaints with the authorities concerned about several dozens of new houses, shops and other structures that have built on government land in the last two to three years.

“They seem like migrants from the backward areas of Punjab and Kashmir. Most of them are from the tribal areas,” said Tanvir Hussain, an indigenous resident of Noorpur Shahan.

Speaking on behalf of the original locals, Mr Hussain complained about the manner in which chaotic development was taking place and the destruction of green areas.

Vaqar Zakaria, the director of Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF), explained that Noorpur Shahan had always attracted outsiders/encroachers because of its proximity to Islamabad.

“It is difficult to say how many new houses have come up. But the haphazard expansion is right before the eyes. It is an open CDA land and firewood easily available there. Deforestation has reached an alarming level in this particular area and we are fast losing the ecology,” he said.

According to Mr Zakaria, Noorpur Shahan was already situated in the national park area and had expanded rapidly in the last two to three years farther into the hills.

Some of the original residents of the village said some species of trees that took 25 to 30 years to grow to their maximum heights had disappeared suddenly.

“It took me a while to take in my new barren surroundings along the track where I go for my evening walks,” said Mr Hussain who along with other neighbours has been trying to register complaints with the Capital Development Authority, the ICT administration and the elected leaders for the last one year.

Noorpur Shahan Bari Imam was declared a model village in 1995 for its historical significance and also for its fruit gardens.

While other settlements, such as Humak Town, Shehzad Town and Margalla Town were developed as model villages, Noorpur Shahan was still deprived of basic facilities.

Although locals had been registering complaints with the government offices, including the Prime Minister House, little has been done to watch illegal constructions and deal with them or implement model village scheme for Noorpur Shahan.

In 2011, the Supreme Court in a suo motu case ordered the CDA to ‘take back the possession of about 19,000 kanals in the capital territory, including Noorpur Shahan, without giving any concession to the occupants’.

According to CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid, “Quite a lot of land has been repossessed.”

However, he said an anti-encroachment drive was being planned in sectors plagued by encroachments.

“The Authority will take back all its land that is illegally occupied from sector to sector step by step,” said Mr Sajid.

Loss of habitat is not the only concern in and around Noorpur Shahan. The natives have also been experiencing increasing incidents of crimes.

Another local of the area pointed out an incident only last week when students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) caught a group of mobile snatchers.

“The university has no boundaries. There are encroachments from 13 sides on its land,” said Vice Chancellor Dr Masoom Yasinzai, explaining how villagers/locals trespassed on university land spread over 1,750 acres.

“These encroachers are a serious security risk to the university and its 9,000 plus students,” said the VC, explaining how his 140-strong watchmen were insufficient to ensure safety.

The area MNA Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry forwarded questions to his spokesman who said several hundred new structures had come up in the past two to three years because encroachments on the CDA land.

“Anybody with the convenience of enforcement staff of the CDA can build a house here on the open land,” the spokesman said.