Migratory birds: Complete hunting ban in AJK

Action to be taken against those violating the ban.

MIRPUR: A complete ban on hunting of migratory birds will be enforced in Azad Kashmir and action will be taken against those violating the ban, official sources said.

Azad Kashmir’s Honorary Game Warden of Fisheries and Wildlife Department Advocate Ramzan Dutt said here on Saturday that necessary recommendations had been sent to the government for the imposition of a strict ban by the Wildlife Department.

He said that the hunting ban would help break the previous records of arrival of migratory birds in the periphery of Mangla Dam and other wetlands in the territory.

Birds from many parts of the world have started migration to various wetlands of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), particularly along the Mangla Dam area in Mirpur District.

Advocate Dutt said that hundreds of thousands of migratory birds had already arrived in the Mangla Lake area and were expected to increase in the coming weeks. Last year, around 200,000 migratory birds arrived in AJK wetlands, he said. The wildlife official said birds usually come from European and Asian countries.

Apart from three major wetlands, Hokersar, Haigam and Shalibugh, a reasonable number of birds are arriving in Wullar, Manasbal, Anchar, Dal and Nagin lakes, he added. Ramzan Dutt further said that the ban on hunting of birds and maintaining optimum water in the various wetlands would help attract a large number of birds to this region. The birds are very cautious and if they are disturbed by hunters, they start their return journey prematurely, he observed. For the last couple of years, the complete ban on hunting has helped provide a comfortable environment for birds to stay for longer in the wetlands.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2011.