Smuggling bustards

According to a report the Iranian Navy in November intercepted a boat carrying 240 Houbara Bustards

The global trade in endangered species is vast and hugely profitable. It is carried out on every continent and governments spend millions in combating it. Pakistan is home to several endangered species and one of them, the Houbara Bustard, is much sought after by hunters from the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Successive governments have provided hunting licences to Arab ‘dignitaries’, flying in the face of agreements that they have signed that require them to protect these endangered birds. Now a new aspect of the trade in bustards is revealed. The government has received a letter from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). It says that in November last year the Iranian Navy intercepted a boat carrying 240 Houbara Bustards. They had been poached from the wild and lacked any form of documentation. The boat had set off from Pakistan and was bound for Bahrain. The smugglers are currently on trial under Iranian law.

We are not surprised by this latest development. The Balochistan coast is wide open, and provides smugglers with any number of potential points from which to conduct their business . The government has professed ignorance of this which we find hard to believe, but it claims that the Iranians had not shared information with it thereby deflecting any criticism. There is, however, some truth in the government position, as the Iranians had contacted Cites in Geneva rather than directly informing Pakistan of the incident, which ought to have been the route they took. As the birds are migratory, the Pakistan government is unable to ask for their return as they are not a native species. There needs to be a line of communication with the Iranian government regarding incidents like this, and closer coordination between the various national and international agencies if such smuggling activities are to be countered. Pakistan has a patchy record when it comes to endangered species. We would welcome early action.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.