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Imran Khan unleashes 10bn tree tsunami

Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, planting a tree. (Photo courtesy: Amin Aslam's media team)
Updated 02 September 2018
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Imran Khan unleashes 10bn tree tsunami

  • Prime Minister’s vision to turn Pakistan into a sea of green kicks off with #Plant4Pakistan campaign
  • Nearly 1.5mn saplings to be planted across the country
Updated 02 September 2018
Sabah Bano Malik

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan showed off his green thumb on Sunday by launching the #Plant4Pakistan campaign – fulfilling one of his many electoral promises.
As part of the “10 billion tree tsunami” initiative, he planted a tree in the Haripur district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, kickstarting the process of planting nearly 1.5 million saplings across the country.

“The drive was an important step to save Pakistan from becoming a desert,” Malik Amin Aslam, adviser on climate change, told Arab News.
The government has identified 190 spots in the country “where the forest department will work with the municipal administration” to create green spaces.
“Prime minster Imran Khan is highly committed to increasing the country’s water conservation and tackling environmental issues such as air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and unlawful wildlife hunting,” Aslam said.
Two videos released by Aslam on Sunday urged people to not only participate in the campaign but to spread awareness on social media, too.

“Today is an extension of the previous campaign in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa — a successful one acknowledged internationally — which was the billion tree tsunami,” Iftikhar Durrani, special assistant to the prime minister on media, said.
Pakistan ticked off the billion tree goal from its to-do list in August 2017 with newly-planted saplings in KP. The project helped add 350,000 hectares of trees to the area. 

Climate change is a pressing issue for Imran Khan who, in his first national address, talked about the urgent need for the country to take it seriously. “Pakistan stands at number seven [in terms of] being affected by climate change. Though our carbon emissions are less in Pakistan [as compared to other countries], regionally we have seen the effects of climate change, and one way of combatting this is to plant trees,” he had said at the time.
The matter holds even more significance in Karachi which has borne the brunt of climate change with crippling heatwaves in the past few years. “The PM knows that we have to save our future generations [and for that] the entire nation has to plant trees. The campaign will have a strong affect because all the urban centers will see a sharp upward trend of the temperature. Karachi has been effected by heat waves,” Basharat Saeed, an Islamabad-based climate change expert told Arab News.

He added that the more trees we have, the more we succeed in limiting radiation from the sun. Not to forget the campaign’s economic benefits. “There are so many opportunities for livelihood, particularly in rural areas, when it comes to forestry-based occupations,” he said.
However, he urged officials participating in the plantation drive to exercise caution and be aware of geographical limitations. “You have to consider where trees are being planted and which ones. If you plant too many water thirsty trees in an area that is already water stressed, you will put unsustainable pressure on the water table,” he said.
Another issue on hand is the type of species inhabiting the area. “Alien Invasive species are a big problem. They often harm other trees by depriving them of water and nutrients … which might throw the local ecology off balance. Islamabad is a good example of where this has happened,” he said.

Topics: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan #Plant4Pakistan campaign billion tree tsunami international news latest news in english latest news headline climate change Global warming

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Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation

Updated 28 January 2026
AP
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Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation

  • More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan 
  • Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
Updated 28 January 2026
AP

BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.

The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.

The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan

Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.

Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.

So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.

He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.

Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.

At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.

Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.

“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.

Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.

 

Topics: Tirah valley

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