The Koh-i-Suleman range is home to the Shirani forest, which covers a large area. It is in both the north of Balochistan and the south of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Shirani Pakhtuns and Harifal are the two main tribes in the area. Shirani is a remote area of Balochistan that is so far away that it does not even have a bazaar. Most people live in small towns. The forest is about 26,000 acres big.
The pine nuts that grow in the forest are their main source of income. Shiranis who work in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates send money home when they get paid.
When the forest caught fire on May 18, all hell broke loose in Shirani.
Locals could do nothing but watch until the firefighting operation started. Some of them went to the mountains to try to control the huge fire by themselves. But unfortunately, three of them died and three others were badly hurt.
Saadullah Shirani lives in Sharghali, a small village at the foot of the mountain. Like the other helpless people in Shirani, he has seen the fire eat up his pine nut trees. “This business keeps my whole family going. “
The business brings in 500,000 rupees a year,” he says with tears in his eyes.
Sattar Shirani, a local resident, said that there is only one helicopter working to stop the problem.
“I can’t believe that Pakistan doesn’t have the tools to deal with a fire of this size.”
Firefighting and rescuing people
Army and FC helicopters helped put out the fire and protect the trees that still had pine nuts and olives on them. The Zhob division commissioner, Bashir Ahmed Bazai, reported that “We are doing everything we can and using all the resources we have to put out the fires and save the forests from more damage.”
Despite all the efforts, he said, the fire was getting worse because of the strong winds. He also said that firefighting equipment and volunteers were coming from Lahore.
Shirani DC Ijaz Ahmed Jaffar said that relief camps were set up so that people could move out of the areas that were on fire and into the camps. He also said that tents, blankets, sheets, and food were given to these camps by PDMA and the local government.
Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, the Chief Minister of Balochistan, and Lt. Gen. Sarfraz Ali, who is in charge of the Corps, went to Shirani district to check on the situation.
Mr. Bizenjo said that each family of the three people who died will get Rs1 million, and each person who was hurt will get Rs500,000.
The chief minister also had a video call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, where he told him that Iran would send a special plane to help put out the forest fire.
At a press conference on Sunday, a representative of the provincial government thanked the Iranian government for help.
Farah Azaeem Shah also asked the federal and provincial agencies in charge of disaster management to do more to help the helpless villagers.
Some locals say the signs are bad, and they worry that the fire is getting stronger and will spread if it is not put out soon. Mohammad Yahya Musakhail, who is in charge of Balochistan’s pine nut projects, says that so far at least one-third of the forest has been damaged.
“We have put up some barriers in some parts of the forest to protect other parts from being destroyed. We cleared 10 km2 of bushes to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the Shirani forest”.
Mr Yahya thinks that the Iranian plane can put out the fire in 12 rounds. But, like other government officials, he hopes for rain more than anything else.
“It will put out the fire for good.”
Some of the people in the village are sad that so many animals and birds have died.
Cooking banned
The government of Balochistan has made it illegal to camp, cook, or have a picnic in any of the province’s forests.
The Home and Tribal Affairs Department sent out a notice saying that the province is in a drought-like state and that there is a chance of more wildfires.
