Editor Report
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Rina Saeed Khan, former Chairperson of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), on the complaint of Muhammad Saeed, alleging multiple counts of misconduct during her tenure, which she has strongly denied.According to the FIR (No. 87/2025), shared with the APP on Friday, Rina has been accused of criminal misconduct (S. 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947), criminal breach of trust by a public servant (S. 409, PPC), cheating and dishonest inducement of property (S. 420) and criminal abetment.The complainant also alleged that she received donations in her personal bank account in the name of the IWMB, approved the sale and/or transfer of brown bears to the international organization Four Paws without the consent of certain board members, and engaged in misuse of authority and favoritism. She also faced allegations of financial and administrative irregularities under her.Rina, however, rejected all accusations, terming the FIA inquiry a “personal vendetta” orchestrated by the owner of the Monal Restaurant, who, she claimed, was aggrieved by a Supreme Court (SC) verdict against his business operations.In a writ petition, she pointed out that the complainant, Muhammad Saeed, a resident of Gokina and head of the Monal Employees Association, was neither an IWMB employee nor an investigative journalist. She alleged that he was acting as a proxy for Monal’s management.Rina reiterated that she had been subjected to months of harassment by individuals allegedly linked with the illegally operating Monal Restaurant.“All this began after the SC decision in favor of protecting the Margalla Hills. Monal employees were even paid to attack my house—and now this,” she remarked.The principal allegation cited in the FIR is that she engaged in “illegal procurement without a competitive bidding process”—referring to the hiring of a contractor by IWMB for the demolition of the Monal building.She noted that the same allegations had already been investigated by a Federal Government Committee under the supervision of the Secretary of Climate Change, which had cleared her and the entire Board of all charges after a detailed inquiry.“I rely upon the Committee’s verdict in my favor to contest these charges,” she asserted.It may be recalled that in May 2023, a 3-member bench of the SC had dismissed petitions filed by Monal challenging a 2018 judgment of the Islamabad High Court. The High Court had allowed petitions filed by the late Professor Zahid Baig Mirza, an environmentalist, and ordered the restoration to nature of 8 kanals of Margalla Hills land illegally occupied by Monal. The judgment, which was widely hailed by environmentalists worldwide, led to a tussle between the owner of Monal and the then Chairperson of IWMB.
