It is my request to the government to prevent local and outsiders from hunting birds and protect them from extinction
TURBAT: The hunting of Houbara bustards is banned in Balochistan. Yet, we see people regularly making trips to hunt these birds and it seems that every local citizen is a part of this. A survey carried out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature showed that there had been a “sharp decrease” in the number of Houbara bustards with only around 97,000 left in the world — hence, there is a small number of the rare Houbara bustards and a ban has been imposed by the court in Balochistan. The natural decline of the species is also bringing enormous difficulties in this annual hunting season for Arab falcons to hunt freely.
Furthermore, royal Arabs, who have been coming to Pakistan for decades in greed of the Houbaras, hunted 2,100 birds just in 2014, compelling officials to ban the portico for foreign hunters. Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and notable Human Rights Activist Asma Jehangir, referring to Arab falcons hunting in Balochistan, wrote on Twitter that not a single political leader had reacted against the illegal hunting by Arab princes. Therefore, it is my request to the Government of Pakistan to prevent local and outsiders from hunting birds and protect them from extinction.
Zoha SM
Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
