Court bans extraction of precious stone from Karoonjhar Hills

THARPARKAR: A local court on Saturday ordered the stone extracting companies to halt cutting of precious stone from Karoonjhar hills forthwith, ARY News reported.

Judicial Magistrate’s court rejected a review petition of the companies with regard to the court’s decision.

The court also directed the local administration to remove camps of the companies extracting stone from Karoonjhar hills and ordered SSP Tharparkar to submit report to the court on daily basis.

A Supreme Court bench headed by than Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard a petition against illegal excavation of precious stones from Karoonjhar hills of Nagarparkar in December last year at Karachi Registry.

A massive excavation of Karoonjhar Hills has been underway to extract precious stones from the hills.

It is to be mentioned here that a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in November 2019 stayed excavation of stone in Karoonjhar hills of Nagarparkar.

Karoonjhar is a historical mountain of Tharparkar. The hills have been covered with world’s unique granite rocks and it constituted oldest rocks of earth’s crust and china clay.

The hills were home to animals, birds and rare species, including peacocks, deer etc. It was the only source of water for humans, birds, animals in Nagarparkar.

It also stood as a symbol of civilization of indigenous communities and their rituals, culture, customs, traditions, folklore, songs, tales and thousands of years’ religious harmony.

For years the hills were under threat because of illegal cutting for sale of precious stone with the help of influential politicians and other quarters.

Civil society organisations have launched a campaign for years to get the hills be declared a world heritage so that thousands-year old culture related to Karoonjhar could be preserved.