MANSEHRA: The Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) Green Bench has issued a status quo order on all kinds of construction in Kaghan Valley and directed the Kaghan Development Authority (KDA) to submit a comprehensive report on all commercial and residential buildings constructed in violation of the law.
“We moved the PHC seeking demolition of buildings and structures constructed inside national parks in Hazara Division in violation of the Wildlife Act 2015, posing a serious threat to biodiversity and the ecosystem,” advocate Kiran Ayub Tanoli told reporters here on Sunday.
She said her client, Mian Mohammad Shafi, had filed a writ petition in the PHC’s Abbottabad Circuit Bench, highlighting illegal constructions at Saiful Muluk National Park, Dodipatsar-Lolusar National Park in Kaghan Valley, Mansehra district, and Ayubia National Park in Abbottabad district.
The court, she said, granted an injunction on all types of construction across the entire Kaghan Valley and summoned all relevant parties, including the director general of the Kaghan Development Authority, to appear before it on April 1 with a comprehensive report on all buildings constructed in the valley.
“These large-scale constructions, carried out under the guise of promoting tourism, have polluted the environment and led to massive deforestation in national parks in Mansehra and Abbottabad districts,” she said. Kiran Tanoli stated that illegal construction activities at Saiful Muluk Lake had polluted its snow-fed waters and surrounding areas. She added that the reinstallation of a chairlift in Ayubia National Park at Nathia Gali had also been suspended after she moved the writ petition in the PHC.
“I have pleaded before the court’s Green Bench to order the demolition of buildings and structures constructed in all national parks of Hazara Division, particularly in Kaghan Valley and Nathia Gali,” she said.
When contacted, a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the chief secretary had already imposed a complete ban on all kinds of construction in Kaghan Valley last year.
“A complete ban on all commercial and residential construction in Kaghan Valley was imposed by the KP government in 2025,” he said. He added that all national parks across Hazara Division were managed by and considered the property of the KP Wildlife Department.
