An infotainment TV channel, Discover Pakistan, recently interviewed a senior Frontier Corps (FC) official who revealed that the Pakistan Army has grown Asia’s largest pine nut orchard in North Waziristan, earning around Rs2 billion in revenue last year.

 

“We collect the pine nuts and supply them all over Pakistan. The quality of pine nuts in this area is very good, and they are also exported out of the country. The total area of pine nut forest spans around 650 to 700 square kilometres, which earned around two billion rupees in revenue last year,” stated Lt Colonel Waqar of FC Corps.

 

Pine nuts, also known as chilgoza in the local language, are famous for their creamy flavour. The very expensive commodity is  an important source of income for local communities. Pakistan continues to be one of the top producers of pine nuts in the world.

 

“This area where we are standing is Shawal Valley. Its area spans around 800 square kilometres, and it is one of the most beautiful valleys in Pakistan. Shawal Valley is on the boundary between North and South Waziristan, and it is around 18 kilometres away from our international border with Afghanistan,” explained the security official.

 

The interviewer asked the Colonel whether the local population, which was displaced after military operations, had been settled back in their native area, to which he replied: “Yes, the area where we are standing right now is known as Turiali. The population of this area is around seven to eight thousand people, and during Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the native people were shifted to Baka Khel camps near Bannu.”

 

The Colonel clarified that the Shawal Valley used to be a hard area, but after the army conducted grand anti-terror operations, peace and stability returned to the area.

 

It merits a mention that Shawal Valley used to be a no-go area many years ago because it was under the control of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In 2016, then-Army Chief Gen Raheel Shareef gave the green light for the initiation of the final phase of operation Zarb-i-Azab in the Shawal Valley region of North Waziristan.