RECENTLY I had the opportunity to visit a few students, some of them practising law and some working as passionate judicial officers in the district judiciary, in different court complexes across Pakistan.

While being with them in court premises, I could see everybody profusely sweating.

Everybody was seen in search of the shade of a tree to sit beneath it, but there was none in the district court complexes. Every day thousands of people like judges, lawyers, law officers, attorneys, government officers, the litigant public, police personnel, hawkers and others come to courtsin search ofbread and butter and justice: If not all them, but at least the main players of the justice system put this formula into practice: `Each one, plant one sapling `.

This will not only change the landscape of court complexes but also minimise the impact of the severity of weather.

A citizen Islamabad (2) I WOULD like to congratulate the Cantonment Board, Clifton (CBC), on initiating a fruit tree plantation campaign and distributing saplings to residents free of cost. This is indeed a step in the right direction.

DHA and Clifton will be better places to live in if a few fruit trees are planted in or outside every house and in other open spaces. For nurturing saplings much water is needed or else they will shrivel and die. It is only when trees are fully grown that their roots are able to extract sufficient subsoil water to sustain themselves. Most of them need to be watered for about 5 years to grow.

The water situation in CBC-controlled areashas been deterioratingforthelasthve years and commercial water tankers are required to fulfil basic needs. Many houses have abandoned their lawns because with Rs4,000 a tanker people simply cannot afford to maintain their gardens.

In order to make the fruit tree plantation campaign a success, the CBC must drastically increase the supply of water.

Otherwise the effort and expense of planting fruit trees may be wasted.

Asiffah Karachi