POLLUTION caused by vehicles and power plants is waf ting up to the mountains in the north, with particulate matter landing on glacial ice, and accelerating its melting. A former head of the Met department is correct in reminding us that building massive roads that cut through the mountains and bring large numbers of smoke-emitting vehicles may sound like a nice idea for raw economic growth, but the environmental impact of this activity needs to be closely considered too. The mountains are a very fragile ecology; it might be necessary to cut roads through them to allow larger flows of traffic, but framing proper environmental guidelines to regulate what kind of vehicles are allowed on the roads should be an important priority. This is not for sentimental reasons alone. Hard economic logic demands that the impact of this vehicular traffic, and the emissions from the plains that are travelling up to high altitudes, be taken seriously because our future hydrology depends on it. The glaciers and the overall water cycle of the mountainous of the north are central to the economy of the plains because this is where the crucial water supplies come from.

However, sentimental reasons for preserving the ecology should not be discounted. The reports one hears of the idyllic streams of the once pristine Khunjerab Pass being chocked with plastic garbage and of parking lots being built to accommodate the growing truck and tourist traffic is heartbreaking. Babusar Pass has already been destroyed by massive cottage industry catering to tourist traffic.

Deosai will suffer a similar fate. While it`s good that domestic tourism is increasing in such parts, care must be taken to provide facilities to ensure the local ecology is not damaged. The same goes for emissions. It is not difficult to develop a system whereby tourist traffic is only allowed to travel in approved vehicles that undergo yearly emissions tests and to have codes for trucks that wish to ply these roads. We must not trample carelessly on the country`s precious glaciers and mountains in a hasty push to increase trade.