In almost every speech the leaders of Awami National Party deliver at any event they have one point in common. All of them claim to have fulfilling the promises they had made with the public before 2008 general elections. They say they have given the provincial autonomy and identity to Pakhtuns by renaming the province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
No one can deny at least this achievement of the ANP government. But I remember some two years ago Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti had announced Zoo for the provincial capital.
It was students of a private school who during their meeting with the Chief Minister had put the demand for establishing zoo in provincial capital which the Chief Minister agreed to. The meeting was held in March 2011. The next month of the same year, the Chief Minister directed the authorities to establish and international standard zoo at an area of 50 acres in Regi Lalma. The land was provided by Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) for the purpose. At the time I hoped that the children of Peshawar would get a chance to visit a zoo in their own city and they would not ask their parents any more to take them to Rawalpindi or Islamabad so that they could visit zoo their and could closely watch the animals.
During surfing on the internet some days back I came across a rare photo of Peshawar. The photo show people moving around cages in year 1890 and the caption of the photo said that the people were visiting the Peshawar zoo in that year.
I was astonished as I have never heard of any zoo. Even I was happy when the Chief Minister had announced establishment of Zoo in Peshawar. But then time passed and the matter was forgotten by Peshawarites.
In August last year, the students of the same school remind the Chief Minister of his promise and announcement of establishment of the zoo in city. The students wrote a letter to the Chief Minister asking him to honor his promise. They said that there was no such place in Peshawar and they strongly felt the need of one such recreational spots.
Now the government does not have few years or few months but a few days left in power but on behalf of Peshawarites I appeal to Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti to honor his assurance regarding establishment of zoo.
Doing this may earn his party very little votes during the next elections but definitely the Chief Minister will earn a lot more respect especially in the eyes of the youth and the children of Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
