Balochistan slaps ban on hunting

Bars Foreign Affairs Ministry from issuing hunting permits to Arab dignitaries

QUETTA: The Balochistan cabinet has barred the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from issuing hunting permits to Arab citizens and others for political reasons and imposed an immediate and effective ban on hunting in all parts of the province.

The provincial cabinet took this decision on Friday under the Wildlife Act of 2014 and other relevant laws of the land in what it called an effort to protect the wildlife.

“Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the provincial government has got the powers to issue licenses for hunting while the Foreign Ministry has been barred,” the cabinet decision said.



“There is a complete ban on hunting and the deputy commissioners have been made responsible to impose the ban,” the official announcement added.

It said all the complaints from local residents on illegal and arbitrary hunting will be addressed by the officials concerned preserving the sanctuaries of wildlife all over Balochistan.

The cabinet also reviewed the government’s complaints on the agreement with the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and decided to form a cabinet sub-committee to review the reservations.

The committee – including Ministry of Petroleum director-general and the PPL managing director – will address those reservations and also meet the prime minister if needed, the announcement said.

The cabinet was briefed on the Local Government Act with reference to Article 140-A of the Constitution and it was decided that the sub-committee will submit its recommendation to the cabinet for formal approval.

As usual, the cabinet reviewed progress on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2017-18 and approved some inevitable changes in some development plans pertaining to providing clean drinking water to school children and construction of toilets in schools.

In order to review the progress on the recruitment process and the development schemes, it was decided to hold separate review meetings under the chairmanship of the chief minister.



The CM strongly resented the delay in completing recruitment in government departments and held bureaucracy responsible for the inordinate delay. “The bureaucrats cannot shift responsibility on others for their own incompetency and failure,” CM Sanaullah Zehri said.

Balochistan Inspector General Police (IGP) was directed to prepare foolproof security plans for schools. The CM also directed the officials to take measures in completing legislation and asked them to present the draft bills before the provincial cabinet for approval.