Stop giving hunting permits to royal visitors, citizens to govt

Demand govt protect these endangered birds

KARACHI: Stop issuing hunting permits to royal visitors from the Gulf countries and allowing them to hunt endangered birds, such as the houbara bustard.

A group of civil society activists, gathered under the banner of Mahol Dost Shehri, held a protest at DHA's Khadda Market on Monday evening where they made these demands.



The protesters, holding brightly coloured placards written in Urdu, English and Arabic, demanded the federal government refrain from issuing permits to anyone from outside Pakistan. They asked the Foreign Office to stop giving illegal permits to kill endangered birds.

"These are rare birds and come to Pakistan as our guests," said a protester, Faryal. "No one has any right to kill these birds in Pakistan," she said, adding that giving permits to royal visitors shows that Pakistanis are weak. "Why are some people coming from outside Pakistan given permits?" asked a woman, who was reluctant to share her identity. "It is a wrong policy to permit some people to hunt birds on our land."



Danish, another protester, was of the view that migratory birds visit Pakistan every year but are killed ruthlessly by foreigners. "No one has the right to hunt them for entertainment," he said.



Naeem Sadiq, a civil society activist, also expressed his concerns over the permits issued by the federal government. "The Supreme Court has already banned its hunting but the government wants it to be lifted now," he said, suspecting that some royal dignitaries are being issued permits despite the ban imposed by the apex court.

The protesters demanded the federal government ban these permits as part of Pakistan's foreign policy.

"It must be changed now if it was the part of the policy," said another female protester who refused to share her name. "Does any other country allow these people to go and hunt rare birds?"



In August, the apex court had imposed a ban on the hunting of the houbara bustard, ordering the government to cancel all licences issued to Arab royals.

Thousands of these birds come to various parts of the country, especially the coastal belt.

Illegal transportation of rare birds is being monitored by different agencies, including the provincial wildlife departments. More than 100 birds have recently been confiscated from Jamshoro Toll Plaza.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2015.