Lake Saif al Malook -- Save Environment, Save Pakistan

No one can deny the beauty of Mother Nature. With the ending of Ramadan and the summer holidays, countless visitors are heading towards the northern areas of Pakistan, such as Naran, and Kaghan. Among all these spots the Lake Saif-al-Malook is the absolute scenic beauty near Naran town also known as the Lake of Fairies.

I’ve grown up hearing many stories from my elders about the fairies coming to the lake. The tale is about a prince, Saif-ul-Malook, who fell in love with a fairy princess, Badi-ul-Jamal. According to the locals, it is a place of fairies and demons, who through the extremity of weather display their anger.

When I was a kid my aunt narrated a bedtime story, I still remember the sparkle in her eyes while she was describing, she visited the lake on the 14th night of the lunar month and the view of the lake was mesmerizing. The reflection of twinkling stars in the water was like thousands of lanterns floating in the water. The moon was showering sparkly dust. My heart pondered to fly out and reach such a place to come across the fairies.

Unfortunately, I remained bereaved and hadn’t seen the original iconic beauty of this fairy lake. On my last visit to the lake, I sat down there for a while and gazed at the scene quietly. The first thought that came to my mind was that I don’t know about fairies but the demons; oh yes, they are real. They come to the lake in big flocks. Feeding, resting, traveling together, and spending their pleasant time with each other, and when they depart the place they leave it with dirt, trash, garbage, and all the junk. Yes, you got it right, I’m talking about the human race. Who’s not letting the forests breathe, and animals live or being the reason for marine habitat destruction? Worse than the image of demons as what humans did to the beauty of such fairyland. It is the harsh reality that we've got the routine of cluttering and damaging the environment wherever we go. How we can let such beautiful places turn into a pile of filth?

I’m not sure about the tales locals recount, that the prince Saif-al-Malook and fairy princess Badi-ul-Jamal are alive to date and visit the lake on every 14th night of the lunar month. But my heart aches while thinking of the picturesque beauty turned into a mass of wreckage of what we’ve done to the symbol of love, beauty, and to the miracle of Allah.

I just want to take an oath to reverse the situation and to make this place as hypnotic as it was hundred years ago for the next generations. I want when the next generation of children to visit these places so they can relate to the spellbinding tales they’ve heard.

Save Environment – Save Pakistan

Samia Adnan Khan