K-P govt denied foreign office's request to grant hunting permits for Arab dignitaries, SC told

Apex court seeks report from all five governments on issuing illegal hunting permits to foreign dignitaries

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it had refused a request from the Foreign Office to issue permits to VIPs from Gulf states for hunting the Houbara bustard in the province.

K-P ‘s Additional Advocate General Mujahid Ali Khan told this to a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, on Wednesday as it heard a case against the illegal issuance of hunting licenses to dignitaries from Gulf states.

Khan submitted a letter from the Forest, Environment & Wildlife department dated December 3, 2014, before the bench on Wednesday which advised the foreign ministry that hunting with falcons and hawks was banned in the province under Martial Law Order 292, which has constitutional protection. “We shall follow the law in letter and spirit”, the letter stated.

The K-P government, in the letter, further told the Foreign Office that Pakistan was signatory to the Convection of International Trade of Endangers Species of Flora & Fauna (CITES) which designates the Houbara bustard as special, hence it cannot be offered for hunting unless export quota for certain number of the birds belonging to the species is granted by the CITES secretariat

K-P had issued the letter following a request by the ministry of foreign affairs on November 14, 2014, requesting the provincial government to move the birds from schedule-III of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife (Protection, preservation, conservation and management) Act 1975 to schedule-I for the 2014-15 hunting season. The intended beneficiary of the move would have been dignitaries from Qatar for hunting in DI Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu in K-P.

Had the PTI-led government agreed to the changes, it would have moved the bird from a legally protected category into a category permissible for hunting.

According to the circular, areas were being allocated in four provinces for 11 dignitaries from Qatar. They would have hunted in Khushab, Jhang, Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar and Layyah in Punjab; Jacobabad, in Sindh; Turbat, Loralai Muskhel, Mushkel Kalat and Jhal Magsi in Balochistan.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the bench appreciated the K-P government for declining the foreign office’s request. It further observed that prima facie, the federal government has no authority to give permission to the foreign dignities for hunting in the areas of provinces.

Another member of the bench, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, remarked that the issuance of permits to Arab princes was tantamount to surrendering the country’s sovereignty, in addition to a violation of the law, it is not permissible.

Meanwhile, the bench has sought comprehensive reports from all five governments regarding the illegal issuance of permits to foreign dignitaries. The court indicated that it may summon the foreign secretary on August 11.

Earlier, petitioner Aamir Zahoorul Haq had requested the court to cancel all hunting licenses issued for hunting the vulnerable bustard, and to restrain the foreign office from issuing such licenses. The petitioner claimed that the government had been issuing licenses for hunting the bird in violation of a ban.