ISLAMABAD - Destruction of green belts across the federal capital, mostly at the hands of law enforcement agencies and other multinational organisations, is a criminal and condemnable act but what to say if some government funded-university is found involved in the same practice.
Of course, such practice on the part of administration of an educational institute requires much more than mere traditional condemnation words.
The green belt between two of the main arteries of the capital, Kashmir Highway and Khayaban-e-Soharwardi, is unfortunate in a manner as the country’s premier spy agency and a government university have collectively been contributing to mar the beauty of nature there.
Though the spy agency has erected a temporary sand bags wall through the middle of green belt between the arteries to protect its head office building years ago, but now when the security situation across the country and especially in the federal capital has returned to normalcy, the presence of wall is illogical. However, such arrangement on spy agency’s part is understandable on the pretext of security situation, but now the administration of Federal Urdu University located on Khayaban-e-Soharwardi have also paved their way to the green belt by establishing a temporary parking lot there.
The administration has also installed a makeshift guardroom on the green belt area where all the university staffers and students parked their hundreds of motorbikes and cars. A small entry and exist points to parking lot have also been carved out by breaking the cemented blocks along the road.
“The situation is deplorable. Despite to tell the youth of the country that these green belts served as lifeline to nature, we are telling them otherwise by asking them to park their vehicles in green areas,” said a professor of the Federal Urdu University.