Lawyers’ delegation examines damage to Karoonjhar Hills

Lawyers, including Ishrat Lohar and Sajjad Ahmed Chandio, who were made amicus curiae by the double bench of Sindh High Court Hyderabad on Friday, visited different points of Karoonjhar Hills in Parkar region to examine the damaged sites and met with the leaders of Karoonjhar Sujag Forum and villagers.

Both “friends of the court” along with the leaders of Thar Bar Council, including Teerath Jhangi, Ghulam Mustafa Higorjo, Fakir Munwar Sagir and others during their visit, met with the leaders of the forum, who appraised them of the situation. Allah Rakhio Khoso, Zulfikar Ali and others deplored that despite the court orders, illegal practice of damaging the site has not stopped by the officials of the district administration, which is causing more damage to different sites on the hills.

Both lawyers gave assurance to the leadership and populace of the Parkar region that a report to the double bench would be submitted during the next hearing.

They said that it was time to protect such beautiful sites that had cultural, religious and historical significance and noted that reaction from the nature lovers over the extraction of granite from the hills, which also holds sacred places including Jain temples, mosques and Hindu temples, was natural. They assured the leaders that they would submit a detailed report to the SHC double bench comprising their views and ground realities.

Hanif Samoon is a senior journalist based at Thar/Badin and contributes reports from different districts of Sindh to Minute Mirror. He has won a number of awards, including the Agahi Award twice for his stories on health and child rights. He tweets @HanifSamoon1 and can be reached through email at [email protected]