Houbara bustard hunting: IHC seeks foreign ministry’s reply

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday gave the foreign ministry two weeks to reply to a plea challenging the issuance of permits to hunt the rare Houbara bustard. The petition, filed by environmentalist Waheed Mehmood Khan, urged the court to direct government officials to stop issuing permits for hunting of rare migratory birds to foreign dignitaries. During the proceedings, petitioner’s counsel Yasir Mehmood contended that foreign dignitaries who visited Pakistan were issued permits to hunt the Houbara bustard every year despite a complete ban on hunting the rare species. He said the record of permits issued to foreign dignitaries was inaccessible to his client and requested the court to declare the issuance of special hunting permits illegal.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2015.