Saving Nathiagali

AUGUST 1999 - They are working nights putting in a new, wide and gleaming road that snakes from Abbotabad up into Nathiagali, the last of the surviving hill resorts of Pakistan. The new road, smooth and safe will propel visitors within 45 minutes to this 8500 ft pine-clad resort. The more traditional Murree-Nathiagali road has been also undergoing a massive face lift and has been more or less closed this season to the throng of visitors who arrive here every summer. Once fully open, scheduled soon, getting to Nathiagali will be easy as pie, as indeed from the Abbotabad. This ironically, poses grave danger to the hill station and unless urgent and well-reasoned plans are not put into action immediately, will certainly usher in the quick demise of Nathiagali as we know it. That’s the situation in a nutshell for the present.

One of the reasons Pakistan’s retreats in the north (we virtually have no tourism in the south, east or west) has been their blessed inaccessibility. Some of the most stunningly beautiful valleys, lakes, rivers and mountain ranges have been impossible to reach except for the intrepid travellers, and trekkers in particular. Mercifully, the tourism authorities have been so screwed up and the government so blind to the great advantages of opening up the country that after half a century, it is pretty daunting to make it to any of the remote areas. The KKH which has cut right across the Karakorum into China is no piece of cake and requires high class vehicles, strong social connections, sound terrain knowledge and a fair amount of financing to transport tourists from say Lahore to Khunjerab Pass and back. Facilities have continued to improve but a vehicle breakdown can be the most frightening experience and the north is still high adventure; not exactly a true blue Faisalabadi’s cup of tea.. These circumstances have helped preserve the hundreds of scenic spots from the prying and filth-depositing hordes.

Naran, Kalam and Murree have not been so lucky and have perished under tons of plastic shoppers, uncontrolled poaching of natural resources and unbridled building of tatty, ugly and unhygienic ‘hotels’ that have successfully marred the landscape forever. Naran, for all its discouraging glaciers and a road that’s virtually noticeable for its absence rather than its presence, has fallen to the Suzuki-brigades which complete with aunts and grandma and fifty thousand screaming brats have somehow bumped their way to Naran. Consequently, Naran has been put to the sword in double quick time. Garbage, pollution and littering has robbed the valleys of Kaghan. While the rates have gone through the roof the rainbow and brown trout have perished to large-scale netting and even dynamiting. The masses have discovered a new addition to their culinary repertoire. Trout. Kalam in the Swat valley has gone under and although the road from Saidu Sharif is mainly rubble, there are traffic jams in the summer and places are hard to find leave alone a quiet corner unless you can get off the beaten track and stay off it. Desirable but difficult. Catching a trout in Kalam is just about as easy as catching a polar bear in the Gobi Desert. About Murree, the less said the better. Whatever makes a hill station a hill station has been taken away from Murree. The destruction of this serene and charming town has been violated with such callous disregard for aesthetics that it is difficult o find the right words to describe it. Any one who has had the misfortune to visit Murree will know. More plunder is planned and there is talk of another road coming up (thanks Mian Sahib) to take more body-loads up into this once-pristine resort.

Which brings us to Nathiagali and the new roads that will expose this hill station. Helping citizens get to resorts is right and justified but it cannot be at the expense of the resort itself. Commerce is ugly but it does not have to be. Today, Nathiagali in the summer is engulfed with diesel fumes, garbage and filth of every kind. There is not a breath you can take without a diesel-emitting monster coming at you belching black smoke. There are no roads, walks or paths where you don’t run into horse-animal dung and tons of garbage thrown by a people who don’t have the least regard for the environment – their environment. Garbage is somebody else’s problem and most of it is washed down with the rains into the valleys below where one may remember live thousands of people who have had no hand in receiving these showers of filth. There is urgent need for the government to step in quickly with a series of laws and recommendations if the hill station is to be saved. It doesn’t look likely because this region falls within the NWFP, not exactly renowned for any progressive thinking.

Those who visit Nathiagali come for fresh air, walks, relaxation and serenity. The few roads that rise above the main bazaar are meant for strolling. Vehicles have no business to be here. Yet they outnumber the people. Since it is necessary for people to get to their homes or hotels, some vehicles have to ply the roads but there must be a road tax that’s high enough to discourage the loitering that is the scourge presently. If anyone wishes to constantly move about in a diesel-smoker, let them pay through the nose. No relaxation for any one, including the hordes of officials who are here constantly. There is a serious absence of civic amenities and apparently a large staff is at hand but only when the Chief Minister is gracing the resort. More and more walks and picnic spots must be developed. Nathiagali is for pedestrians it must be remembered. There have to new and stringent rules for building, adequate provisions for garbage disposal and fines for littering, levied on the spot. Water is a serious issue though the high officials have it wheeled in from Abbotabad or nearby springs. The CM house has a fire brigade truck parked permanently and the airforce at Kalabagh simply take whatever they want without paying a dime. The ordinary people do. This must stop. The question is, will it ? If we don’t do anything, which is what will most likely be the script, Nathiagali will go. The residents need to unite and petition the authorities and fight against encroachments mostly by the officials, retired or not. We have only one resort. It will be a pity if it goes down the hillside with the rest of the garbage.