Daily Times

The Balochistan government’s decision to stop the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from issuing hunting permits to Arab and other foreign national is a welcome move. The government has placed a ban on hunting in all parts of the province. The ban has been put in place using the Wildlife Act of 2014 and other laws pertaining to wildlife protection.

The ban has been applied in a timely manner after 12 people including six Qatari nationals were arrested for illegally hunting the Houbara Bustard and other birds last week. A district councillor for the area near the Af-Pak border, Nushki, was also arrested. It was on his invitation that the foreigners had apparently travelled to Pakistan.

Many foreign nationals, largely from Gulf states travel to Pakistan to hunt endangered species of birds and goats.

These activities are not likely to take place without the protection and facilitation of those influential in the area. Earlier this year, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti was caught for hunting the endangered Markhor.

The ban on hunting the Houbara Bustard has not been without various changes. The lack of a comprehensive ban and hunting parties repeatedly overstepping it has caused many more excursions taking place which have caused the bird to be listed as a ‘vulnerable’ species at risk of extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The reckless activities and callous attitude of the hunting parties cause irreparable damage to local crop land. Farmers, both male and female, work tirelessly for sowing chickpeas, a local crop, but hunting parties drive their SUVs through the fields while chasing the bustard.  Locals have complained that they are not compensated following damage to their crops and source of livelihood.

For an effective ban on illegal hunting, the locals in the area need to be given a voice and represented at the national level. Moreover, those responsible for facilitating the hunting parties need to be punished and legal action should be taken against them. The high-handed practices of the hunting parties on foreign land is evidence of the weak rule of law in Pakistan.  *

Published in Daily Times, December 11^th 2017.