The bench was hearing a petition against the exhibition of tigers in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s election rallies. PHOTO: REUTERS
The Lahore High Court green bench on Friday directed the secretary of climate change to submit details of the licences issued for importing wild animals during the last five years.
The bench was hearing a petition against the exhibition of tigers in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s election rallies. A notice was issued to the PML-N secretary general and the Punjab Wildlife Department director general for June 21. Earlier, notices were issued to the district coordination officer and World Wide Fund for Nature for their replies.
Animal rights activist Faryal Gohar had filed the petition against the exhibition of wild and endangered animals in the PML-N’s rallies and failure of the authorities to check the practice.
Advocate Waqas Mir, the petitioner’s counsel, said under the Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act 2012, import permits could not be granted with regard to wild animals without the assurance that they would be suitably housed and taken care of in the country.
The authorities were not complying with the mandatory legal provisions of the Act in granting permits for import, he said.
The bench said that the lack of checks on the import of wild cats was a matter of grave concern.
The bench observed that it was necessary to check the number of licences issued to import wild animals and the procedure followed in issuing the licences.
Gohar had submitted that the PML-N, having been allocated the tiger as its election symbol, had exhibited big cats in their election rallies. This posed two problems, she said, the tiger being an endangered animal, deserves proper treatment and the presence of wild animals among people could be a threat to the people attending the rallies. The practice posed a threat to the health of people through zoonosis (the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans).
Gohar said that the election commission had been approached to stop the practice but it did not take action. Gohar prayed to the court to issue directions to the authorities to take necessary action to improve the conditions for big cats in private breeding farms and regulate the licensing procedure.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2013.
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Some one tell Faryal BB to talk about human rights first,In our society rights of humans are being supressed left right & center but coz of political vendetta against a political party,she all of a sudden is worried about welfare of animals. I can safely bet that had her beloved party been alotted endangered pandas or some other endangered animal.they too would have imported them & displayed in their rallies and no one including Ms Faryal would have raised voice against such partice.