ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched “Plant for Pakistan”, an afforestation drive in the country, by planting a sapling in Haripur district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan received the PM and accompanied him to Haripur during the launching of the campaign.
Talking to media at the occasion, the prime minister said that their target is to plant 10 billion trees in five years of their tenure to make the country green.
He said the aim is to beat the threat of global warming and climate change. “Pakistan is seventh on the list of those countries which will be affected by global warming… this is a war for the survival of our future generations,” he said while talking about the aim of the trees plantation drive.
Initially started at 200 points in the cities, PM Imran said that the campaign will be carried out in all cities across the country.
“This is the beginning. Our target is to plant 10 billion trees in the whole country and this campaign will continue for 5 years. We had planted 1.18 billion trees in K-P and now we are starting plantation in the rest of the country,” he said.
In their countrywide mission the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will plant trees on government lands and by the roadsides wherever they find space for plantation in addition to planting trees in the forests.
“To increase the importance of plantation and cleanliness among children from the beginning we are including this subject in schools,” PM Imran said.
No one was concerned about the deforestation, Imran observed.
Forests were destroyed in Punjab and K-P and before PTI government timbers worth of Rs200 billion were chopped off illegally, he added.
He said that PTI government in K-P had planted 1.18 billion trees in last five years of their tenure and now they have the target of 10 billion across the country.
Imran urged that it is not only the responsibility of government or of an individual but it is the responsibility of every citizen to take part in the campaign and contribute to make this country green otherwise the land would convert into desert owing to melting glaciers.
Meanwhile the district administration of Peshawar along with other government departments planted 231,000 saplings in the provincial capital of K-P under “Green Peshawar” campaign.
Schools students along with 1,500 scouts and government officials also took part.
The Rescue 1122, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Frontier College for Women, University of Peshawar, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and various schools across the city planted saplings to participate in the campaign.
School students despite their holiday came to schools to add their part in the plantation drive.
