The Margalla Hills were again ablaze on Friday, with dousing efforts “focused on the centre” after the fire was controlled from the sides, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said.
More than 80 firefighters were on the site in attempts to control the fire, the CDA said in a post on X.
“They have encircled the fire from sides, controlled it from sides and now the efforts are concentrated on [the] centre-point,” it added.
According to CDA spokesperson Kamran Aslam, additional teams had departed to join the extinguishing efforts.
Environment director Asif Majeed was monitoring the operation himself on the directives of CDA Chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa, Aslam said, adding that the relevant assistant commissioner was also present on the site.
High-speed winds and hot weather posed difficulties in putting out the blaze, the CDA spokesperson highlighted. He asserted that all resources were being to use to control the fire.
Spread over 12,605 hectares, Margalla Hills face a number of fire incidents every year, with 15 such cases occurring only on Tuesday, which were then doused after an almost eight-hour-long operation.
Suspecting human involvement, the interior minister then ordered an inquiry, the registration of a first information report (FIR) and the formation of a committee over the fire incidents.
The next day, Randhawa — also the Islamabad chief commissioner — met with the city’s police chief Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi and others, where they vowed to trace any possible human involvement in such incidents.
Margalla Hills is being looked after by two organisations — CDA and Islamabad Wildlife Management Board — and during the last few years, they have remained at loggerheads with each other. Some officials said there was also a possibility that someone who wanted to create a rift between these two bodies was behind the alleged deliberate fire incidents.
The incidents had come into the spotlight earlier this week, when two fires in the hills’ Saidpur range were put out by firefighters after seven hours with the support of helicopters.
The next day, another fire had erupted and spread to the Noorpur range, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take notice of the matter.
