The district administration officials on Wednesday arrested five men for illegal hunting and recovered four deer, 28 black and 11 brown partridges and 20 quails from them. One of them, they said escaped. The officials said that three of those arrested are government servants.
Following the arrest, District Coordination Officer Dr Naeem Rauf held a press conference to announce initiation of a crackdown against illegal wildlife hunters.
He said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was taking special interest in the protection of wildlife and had directed the officials to launch a crackdown to arrest them.
The DCO said that as many as 432 deer inhabited the 600-acre area of Laal Sohanra. He said residents of the area had been complaining about deer theft and hunting.
After receiving the complaints, he said, a committee was constituted under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner (Saddar) Tanveer Jhandir.
He said the committee launched an operation against the hunters and arrested five of them. Those arrested were identified as Muhammad Tahir, Raja Nadir, Noor Muhammad, Farooq, Riaz and Haji Shahid, while one Adil Qutbi fled away.
The DCO said that more raids were being made to arrest Qutbi and two other men, Muhammad Altaf and Muhammad Mustafa, whose names were provided by those arrested.
Rauf said that three Forest Department block officers in Chinkara area, Baqa Muhammad, Qadir Bakhsh Jabla and Allah Bakhsh beldar, were suspended for facilitating the illegal hunting and thefts.
The DCO said that he had recommended the Forest Department to establish six check posts to stop illegal hunting in the Bahawalpur region. He said he had also recommended hiding of more staff, equipped with latest weapons, who could be deployed at various places.
MNA Saood Majid and District Police Officer Sohail Habib Tajik were also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2012.
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How about we start checking the protectors and law enforcers if they are not the main culprit in all of the injustices and violence in the country against the common citizens of Pakistan.
please have some mercy on Pakistan, stop hunting the wildlife and cutting the trees, ET, please go for an investigation report on illegal cutting of trees.