A major deforestation case in the Jatkul area of Upper Dir district has laid bare serious lapses in forest protection in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with fresh revelations that thousands of tons of valuable chestnut wood are being cut and sold annually. According to the report, between 2019 and 2026, approximately 1,300 kanals of forest were cleared in Jatkul, located in the northeastern part of Upper Dir district, which falls under two separate forest divisions.
Jurisdictional Confusion Hinders Protection
The incident has sparked intense debate over the future of the province's forests, with critics describing tree plantation drives as nominal compared to the scale of logging. The controversy has also exposed deep jurisdictional confusion. Neither the Dir Forest Division nor the Dir Kohistan Forest Division fully claims responsibility for the Jatkul area. Officials from both divisions acknowledge that chestnut trees were cut but attribute much of the activity to local residents exercising what they consider their ownership rights over non-designated forests.
Younas Khan, Sub-Divisional Forest Officer (SDO) of the Dir Forest Division, stated that the division manages 58,000 hectares of designated forest and 47,680 hectares of non-designated forest, the latter considered the property of local communities. He described the Jatkul cutting as occurring in the Dir Kohistan Forest Division's area, where locals may have used the wood for fuel.
Staff Shortages and Legal Limitations
Range Officer Arshad Khan of the Dir Kohistan Forest Division confirmed the area falls under compartment 474 of the Dir Forest Division, roughly 2–2.5 kilometers away. He highlighted staffing shortages and legal limitations, noting that locals cannot be stopped from using non-designated forests due to ownership rights. The division is responsible for protecting 133,629 hectares of designated forest but faces significant manpower constraints, with many forest guard posts vacant.
A ground survey revealed the massive scale of wood consumption. In Upper Dir, local households and commercial units consume substantial quantities of firewood, particularly during the harsh winter months from October to March. Market records show that in summer, around 12,000 LPG cylinders are sold monthly in parts of Dir Kohistan and over 67,000 in Dir Forest Division areas. Wood sales are even higher, with approximately 18,000 tons of chestnut timber sold monthly in local markets for domestic and commercial use.
Annual Wood Consumption and Smuggling
Officials estimate that 14,000–15,000 tons of chestnut wood are burned or sold annually in the monitored markets alone. The report notes that this figure excludes large-scale smuggling via tractors, pickups, and head-loading from remote valleys such as Kamrat, Thal, Lamuti, and others.
Prominent Peshawar High Court lawyer Tariq Afghan, who highlighted the Jatkul case after verification from locals, strongly condemned the large-scale cutting. He rejected the forest department's explanation that it cannot intervene in locally owned forests, arguing that ownership rights are limited to meeting genuine domestic needs and do not extend to commercial exploitation that destroys entire ecosystems.
Legal Warning and Environmental Threats
"If no reasonable action or explanation is provided by the forest and environment departments within a week, we will approach the court," Afghan warned. He stressed that such activities violate environmental laws and threaten biodiversity.
Despite the challenges, the forest department claims to have intensified operations against the timber mafia. In the Dir Forest Division, millions in fines have been collected, thousands of cubic feet of timber seized, and hundreds of cases pursued in recent years. Recently, several wood saw machines were destroyed in Dir city and surrounding areas.
