Muhammad Tahir Qureshi, “Father of Mangroves,” Departs
By Dr A. Khan
Chicago, IL
Muhammad Tahir Qureshi aka “Father of the Mangroves,” passed away on December 29, 2020, in Karachi. Tahir Qureshi excelled in planting trees and mangroves in Karachi, Sindh, and Baluchistan. He played a key role in the rehabilitation of 30,000 hectares of mangroves along the southern coast of Arabian sea. For his dedicated services for the rehabilitation of mangrove forests, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) bestowed on him the title of “Hero of Mangroves.”
He was known as the “Father of the Mangroves” and for more than four decades he passionately fought against the deforestation and coastal commercialization mafias. In the process of protecting the forests and mangroves he was kidnapped by the mafias a couple of times.
Muhammad Tahir Qureshi was born in 1946. In 1947, after the partition of British India, Mr Qureshi’s family migrated from India to Shikarpur, Pakistan. Later, the family moved to Hyderabad, Sindh.
Mr Tahir Qureshi received his MSc Zoology degree from the University of Sindh, and thereafter served as a lecturer at the Research and Training Institute, Tando Mohammad Khan, Sindh. He then joined Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar, and in 1975 received his MSc (Forestry) degree. Later through the Public Service Commission, he was appointed first as District Forest Officer, and later promoted as Divisional Forest Officer, Government of Sindh. He also served as a senior advisor for coastal ecosystems with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Pakistan lost about 42,000 hectares of forest per year during 1990-2010. In 2010, Pakistan was declared a forest-deficient country because only 2.2 percent of its land mass, about 4.2 million acres, was forested. Riverine and mangroves represent only twenty percent of forest cover in the country, the rest is in the mountainous areas of KPK, Gilgit, Baltistan and Kashmir --- threatened by the timber mafia’s unlicensed deforestation activities. Mr Qureshi worked zealously to curb deforestation and to rehabilitate the mangroves.
Mr Qureshi was an observer to the Guinness Book world record breaking event on July 15, 2009, when Pakistan set a world record by planting 532,887 mangrove saplings in a day on the coastal islands of Khedewari along the shores of Keti Bandar near Thatta. Pakistan exceeded the record set by India on June 12-13, 2009, when 447,874 saplings were planted in Assam. Earlier, Mexico had planted 348,393 saplings on August 29-30, 2008. In 2013, Pakistan set a new Guinness Book world record by planting 847, 275 mangrove saplings in Kharo Chaan, Thatta. And on April 18, 2018, Pakistan broke its own record of 2018, by planting 1,129,294 mangrove saplings on an Island near Keti Bandar.
According to Mr. Qureshi’s wife, recently his sons advised him not to spend more time outside and take precautions due to Covid-19 pandemic, but he was always eager to visit his mangroves. He used to visit mangroves every day. Wearing khaki shirt and slacks, he used to wade through the swamp up to his waist to check on the health of mangroves. He used to say that mangroves are the arteries of the soil. Once asked if he is satisfied with his job, he replied: “This is my life. I am very happy with it. The cause is worth living such a life…”
May Allah SWT bless his soul and give him a place in Janet ul Firdous for his dedicated services for protecting nature! Ameen!
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