Home to some exotic flora and fauna, the Saiful Muluk National Park in Kaghan valley is in a state of neglect as the wildlife department hasn’t made any serious effort to preserve it since it was declared a national park 14 years ago.

In 2003, the secretary of the environment department exercising his powers under the Preservation, Protection, Conservation and Management Act 1975 had declared the Saiful Muluk Lake spread over 12,026 acres in Mansehra district a national park.

The Malika-i-Parbat, a mountainous range in Kaghan valley to the east, which supplies water to the Saiful Muluk Lake, enhances the beauty of the natural wonder.

After giving a park the status of national park, the government is bound by the 1975 law to protect and preserve its scenery, flora, fauna, geological features of special significance and biological diversity.

Under the law, a national park will be accessible to the people for recreation, education and research and that the government will construct roads, rest houses, hotels and other buildings there along with provision of amenities to the people.

To avoid adverse effects in the national park hunting, shooting rapping, killing or capturing of wildlife is strictly prohibited alongside logging, felling, tapping, burning and destroying plants and trees, grazing and fishing.

The Preservation, Protection, Conservation and Management Act 1975 also strictly deals with those littering and dumping waste and using vehicles on roads not specified. However, the things at the Saiful Muluk Lake, the heart of the national park, are dismal as scores of jeeps used by tourists are parked there polluting its natural beauty and serenity.

The only road, which leads to this tourist attraction located over 11,000 feet above the sea, is bumpy and in a highly dilapidated condition. Many deadly accidents have occurred on it.

Ironically, there are no hotels and rest houses at the national park, which hosts the Saiful Muluk and Ansoo lakes, to the misery of visitors showing up in large numbers from across the country and abroad in the summer season.

The serene lakes, green meadows, high mountains and above all the pleasant weather is main feature of the picturesque place.

The major attraction, Saiful Muluk Lake, with which a tale of a prince falling in love with a fairy princess is associated, has litter everywhere and animals grazing in its surrounding.

The area is also inhabited by wolves, jackals, jungle cats, chukar, black partridges, see-see partridges and rock pigeons but their lives are not secure as hunters chase them without let or hindrance.

The snow leopard, which is on the verge of extinction, can be seen wander in thick mountainous forest of Malika-i-Parbat, and thus, adding beauty and charm to the national park.

The Awami National Party-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had finalised a plan to install a cable car and chairlift between Naran and Saiful Muluk Lake. Though current Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government invited expressions of interest from private sectors but even then, the project seems to be in doldrums.

No such projects have been launched in the park for the last 14 years to preserve nature and attract tourists most of whom restrict their movement to the Saiful Muluk Lake only.

“No doubt this place is paradise on earth but ironically, it has become an extreme example of neglect,” said Ayesha, a tourist.

She said it was the only place in the country with glaciers, lakes, meadows and snow-clad mountains even in the hottest summer but visitors didn’t have facilities to explore nature and its exotic species.

Saith Matiullah, the president of the hoteliers association in Naran, insisted that the government seemed least interested in promoting tourism in the valley.

He regretted that he had been hearing since his childhood about the installation of a chairlift or cable car from Naran to Saiful Muluk Lake for tourists but there had been nothing on the ground.

The hotelier association president declared the status of the national park for the place ‘eyewash’ and said the government should come here with a tangible programme to promote tourism through infrastructure development and preservations of exotic species.

The wildlife department has yet to implement the PTI government’s tourism initiatives in the park, which it oversees.

“We have been following the government’s policy to preserve nature and natural habitats to promote tourism here. That’s why we’ve executed a plan to remove encroachments from around the Saiful Muluk Lake,” divisional wildlife officer Taimur Ali Shah said.

Mr Shah, who assumed the office recently, said ruling PTI’s chief Imran Khan had envisioned a boom of tourism in the province through infrastructure development and that his department would follow his vision to preserve nature at the Saiful Muluk National Park.

“We are in the process of setting up a development and management committee in collaboration with the local community to highlight this park internationally. The latter will be given a reasonable share in the revenue generated through this intuitive,” he said.

The DWO said 80 percent share in the revenue generated in that way would go to local community and 30 percent of it would be spent on development.

He said that government was going to establish an endowment fund with a handsome amount to be spent for the development of local community.

“We are going to launch an eco-tourism programme, where exotic flora and fauna will be explored and preserved, and students will be allowed to conduct research on them,” he said.

Mr Shah said when the local community was involved in the affairs of the national park, it would curb hunting, littering and other plagues caused by visitors.

He said 20 watchers were being inducted from the local community for preservations of flora and fauna.

The divisional wildlife officer also expressed optimism that the local community would cooperate with him for turning the park into a ‘matchless’ destination for foreign tourists.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2017