IHC forms commission to run Islamabad Zoo

Seeks report by April 10 from CDA, IWMB, IMC bosses

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday ordered to form a commission to run the Islamabad Zoo.

The commission will be headed by the Ministry of Climate Change secretary and comprise of Capital Development Authority Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed, Islamabad Mayor Anser Aziz and Islamabad Wildlife Management Board Chairman Anisur Rahman.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah has instructed the commission to submit its first report on April 10.

“All zoos should be closed if the government cannot take care of the animals,” remarked Chief Justice Minallah while hearing a case on Saturday. Justice Minallah resumed hearing of the case regarding lack of care provided to animals at the Islamabad Zoo.

The secretary of climate change and Islamabad mayor appeared in the court.

MoCC pulling Islamabad Zoo out of dismal state

The climate change ministry was given the task of taking care of the animals, remarked Justice Minallah. “What did you manage to do?”

The secretary said that whenever anyone from the ministry went to the zoo, the authorities would lock it.

“Why is everyone so interested in this zoo?” the IHC chief justice asked. The animals are not being provided the treatment they should get, even the previous government did nothing about it, he said, adding that control of the zoo was given to the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), which has no legal claim over it.

The government, IMC and zoo authorities have proven that they are incapable of taking care of the animals, he remarked.

Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Ansar Aziz said that the main problem is that the federal government did not provide enough funds to IMC for the zoo.

“We have to rely on the funds from CDA to pay for animal’s food,” he told the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2020.