Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Chief of Protocol Sahazada Ahmad Khan has said that 36 dignitaries from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain were allowed to hunt houbara bustard and other migratory birds – each for 10 days – and provinces had the right to accept or refuse their request.

He was briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, which met under the chair of Mir Yousaf Badini.

The protocol chief informed the committee that dignitaries from these four brotherly countries had been allowed for their bilateral relations with Pakistan.

After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provinces now had the right to allow foreign dignitaries to hunt. He said that the Foreign Office only recommends the provincial governments to allocate hunting areas in the case of houbara bustard.

He said that these recommendations had been conveyed to the provincial governments to notify hunting areas and issue permits in accordance with local rules and regulations, and added that the recommendations were not “orders”.

He said that the Qatari government had announced 150,000 jobs to Pakistani nationals during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent trip to Qatar.

He said that the UAE had established hospitals in Bhakkar and Jhang, and also established a medical college in Islamabad under the head of welfare projects.

He said that the hunting season started from November 1 and ended on January 31, and dignitaries were allowed to hunt for only 10 days. “Their teams came in advance for the arrangements, not for hunting.”

The official made it clear that the FO’s role was not of a post office. He said that provinces had “the authority to reject the request of any foreign dignitary for hunting”, and added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had recently rejected a request.

Senator Badini said that those who had come to Pakistan for “arrangements” were also hunting. He said that even the owners of lands had not been informed about the permissions. He said that foreign hunters had been gifting luxury vehicles to local administrations and, in return, violating rules and regulations of permits.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that those dignitaries should also do something for the community.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid informed the committee that the ministry had developed and issued policy guidelines to all relevant provincial governments for conserving houbara population in a scientific manner.

He said that the federal government had established Migratory Birds and Houbara Bustard Endowment Fund with a grant of Rs 250 million. He said that a code of conduct for ensuring sustainable hunting and protection of the environment had been developed and conveyed to the Gulf dignitaries for strict compliance during houbara hunting season. He said that the provincial governments had been empowered to implement the code of conduct and to ensure that hunting was carried out only through falconry, with a sustainable bag limit.