The provincial government on Friday told the Lahore High Court that houbara bustard had been removed from the list of protected birds.
A report submitted by the Wildlife Department stated that a survey conducted in December last showed a reasonable increase in the number of houbara bustard.
Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah expressed concern over the move and asked the departments counsel about the criteria adopted in the survey to know the population of the bird. The chief justice was hearing identical petitions challenging hunting permits issued to the Qatari royal family members.
Also read: Farmers mount protest against Qatari houbara hunters over damage to crop
The chief justice observed it appeared that the government had a dream at night and it removed the houbara bustard from the list of protected birds next morning. He said the survey conducted by the wildlife department hardly seemed reliable.
Representing a petitioner, Advocate Sheraz Zaka alleged that houbara bustard was fast becoming endangered species and there was no department that could furnish statistics of the bird. Referring to a book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the lawyer said multinational corporations and rich people obtained licences to explore oil, gas and hunting protected birds in developing countries. However, undertakings of carrying out economic development projects in the hunting areas were never fulfilled, he added.
Advocate Kaleem Ilyas, through another petition, argued that houbara bustard was a protected bird across the world and it should not be excluded from the list of protected species here.
Assistant Advocate General Anwaar Hussain told the court that reports of international organisations on houbara bustard were not reliable. He was of the view that the international organisations outsourced their reports and they were based on assumptions. The law officer argued that only the reports of the government could be considered credible.
Justice Shah adjourned hearing till March 3 and directed the government to submit reasons and grounds the government relied upon to remove houbara bustard from the list of protected birds.
DC summoned
The Lahore High Court on Friday summoned Gujranwala Deputy Commissioner Amir Jan in a contempt petition regarding sale of a historical residential building in Wazirabad despite a stay order.
Representing the petitioner, Advocate Taffazul Haider Rizvi argued that despite status quo maintained by the court, regrettably, revenue officials along with police facilitated the illegal sale and also helped them obtain illegal possession after breaking open the locks.
Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti directed the deputy commissioner to appear in person on Feb 13 and explain his position in the case.
The judge had on Jan 25 stayed the sale of the Musamman Burj on the petition of Raja Jalilullah Khan and others. Mussamman Burj measuring 53-kanal-14-marla built in 1632 during the rule of Emperor Shahjahan was designed by architect Hakim Ilumud Din Wazir Khan (of Lahores Wazir Khan Masjid fame) after whom the city of Wazirabad was named.
During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh it was utilised as residence of French General Avitable who was one of the main commanders of Ranjit Singh.
Image copyrightAZMATULLAHImage captionThe Houbara bustard, also known as the Asian Houbara, is prized by hunters in the Middle EastThey're a shy, rare bird breed, the size of a chicken - and hunting them is officially banned in Pakistan. But it is no holds barred when Arab royals begin their Houbara bustard hunting trips. Arab princes and their wealthy friends like to hunt Houbara bustards both as a sport and because the meat is considered an aphrodisiac. The birds migrate in the thousands from Central Asia to Pakistan every winter - giving the Pakistani elite a chance to engage in "soft diplomacy". Despite the hunting ban, the government issues between 25 and 35 special permits annually to wealthy sheikhs, allowing them to hunt the bird in its winter habitat. The hunts are secretive, but controversial.
Image captionA sheikh and part of his entourage at a bustard hunt in 2015The hunting parties are given a limit of 100 birds in a maximum 10-day period, but often exceed their quota. In 2014, the leaking of an official report that a Saudi prince had killed more than 2,000 birds in a 21-day hunting safari sparked an outcry. The government imposed a "temporary moratorium" on hunting, but quietly issued permits for the hunting season later that year. And in August 2015, after the Supreme Court ordered a blanket ban on hunting Houbara bustards, officials issued "partridge hunting" licences to Arab royals instead. But locals say that is not what they killed on the ground. Several eyewitnesses told the BBC of bustard-hunting sessions that took place after the ban, in the remote desert town of Nurpur Thal and the village of Mahni, Bhakkar district.
Houbara Bustards
Image copyrightAZMATULLAH
Similar in shape to a chicken or turkey
Listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a "vulnerable" species at high risk of extinction
IUCN says it is threatened by hunting and trapping "largely, though not exclusively, on its wintering grounds"
Estimates say there are between 50,000 and 100,000 left
One youth in Nurpur Thal said a top official from the Forest and Wildlife Department of Punjab visited in December, telling them to prepare for a Qatari sheikh's visit. He was paid 80,000 rupees ($770; 530) for three months' work, identifying and guarding the bustards' nesting spots, he said. The hunting party arrived on 21 December, and hunted eight houbara bustards over a week, he added. Meanwhile, landowner Amjad Abbas Bidhwal said he witnessed a hunt in mid-December while he was hoeing his chickpea crops on the sand dunes in Mahni.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionA falcon preys on a houbara bustard (file photo)Wildlife department officials and local police drove to his land, "got off their vehicles and started waving to us aggressively to get out of the area", he says. They were followed by a motorcade of about 20 SUVs, Mr Bidhwal said. "I saw an Arab wearing the traditional white robe and head gear appear through the sunroof of the SUV in front, a falcon perched on his right hand." "We saw a nervous, chicken-sized houbara bustard rise in the air. The Arab reached out to remove the blinkers from the falcon's eyes and tossed it in the air to chase the bustard. The SUVs kept on speeding behind them as the two birds disappeared in the distance."
Image captionA sheikh holds a Houbara bustard before killing itAnother Mahni resident who works for the Qatari hunting parties said he set up at least seven hunts of houbara bustard during early January. He says that nearly 70 bustards were hunted in the area, in defiance of the ban. But Imran Qureshi, who introduced himself as the focal person of the Qatar camp in Mahni, denied that any houbara bustards had been hunted during the ban. "We had a permit to hunt partridges, and that is what we hunted. It was all legal," he told me over the phone. The Supreme Court lifted its ban in late January, after the government argued that houbara hunting was a "cornerstone" of Pakistan's relations with the Middle Eastern rulers.
[h=2]Massive entourages[/h]Dr Uzma Khan, a director at World Wildlife Fund's country office in Lahore, says the Houbara bustard population "has been declining, but the government has conducted no population surveys to ensure sustainable hunting". And it is not just conservationists who are unhappy with the hunts. Farmers say the large hunting parties disrupt their work and damage crops. Chickpea is the only crop that grows on the rain-fed sand dunes of the Thal desert, and life can be hard when there are drought conditions. "You spend something like $400 to raise chickpeas on a 25-acre block," says Amjad Bidhwal. "It involves hundreds of man-hours of weeding and hoeing, pesticide sprays and general care because the fields are vast and they are not fenced."
Image captionWeeding and hoeing the dusty sand dunes in Mahni is hard workThe sowing season starts in late September, just weeks ahead of the arrival of Houbara bustards. They are soon followed by the wealthy Arab hunters, who, local farmer Sultan Karlu says, "come in hundreds" if you include their entourages. "If a pair of tiloors [Houbara bustard] is nesting in your field, the police and the guides will stop you from visiting it until the [princes] have hunted them. This could take days, sometimes weeks," Mr Karlu said. And then there is the problem of off-roading by the hunters as they chase the birds across miles after miles of croplands in dozens of SUVs at a time, damaging the vegetation.
Image captionSUV marks seen on a field where crops are grown
Image captionSultan Karlu says the hunt has damaged his crops but he has been denied compensationFarmers have filed nearly a dozen reports with the police station at the area's central Hyderabad Thal town, but an officer there told BBC that "no action has been ordered [against foreign hunters] because they have promised to compensate the affected farmers". Locals say that only a few farmers have been paid $40 each as compensation, while the bulk of them were left out. The government has argued that wealthy hunters from Gulf states bring investment to under-developed areas in the hunting fields. However, there are complaints that the Qatari princes have not yet laid a single brick of the four hospitals they promised to build in the area, and for which local landowners have already donated land.
Image captionThe collapsed sign shows a tract of land designated for Sheikh Jassim hospital
Image captionLandowner Amjad donated four acres of land for the hospital last year - but says everything went quiet after he transferred the landAt a recent gathering in Mankera town, a sub-divisional headquarters in Thal desert, angry farmers refused to accept compensation from Qatar camp's managers and threatened to file a petition in court.
[h=2]High-tech 'revenge'[/h]While farmers' unrest continues, one of them in Nurpur Thal came up with an innovative plan to extract money from the hunters. On 27 December, farmer Qayum Hussain learned about an impending hunt on his land - and decided to film it. He borrowed a high-definition camera from a contact and lay in wait for the hunt. While he was filming the hunt, the hunters spotted him and called out to him, but he jumped on his motorbike and raced towards his house, with SUVs and the police on his tail. Undeterred, Mr Hussain called a local reporter for a TV channel, Ikramullah, offering him the footage.
Image captionChickpeas are the only crop that grows well in the Thal desertA local guide who was privy to the episode told me the Arab hunters and local police confronted Mr Hussain at his home. "The situation turned ugly. Hot words were exchanged, and there were scuffles as the police tried to threaten him physically, but he was adamant," the guide said. In the end, they struck a deal. Hussain gave the Arabs the memory card of his camera, and the Arabs gave him $500, he says.
Bhai arafay, jis tarah Altaf kuuuutttay ka bacha, ghadar hurami hey, to is ka yeh mutlab to nahi kay her URDU bolnay wala uss jesa he ho, lihaza kisi aik kuuunjar ki wajah say PLEASE kisi bhi zuban bolnay waley ko SHAMEFUL NATION nahein kehna chahiyay, yeh baat mein bohat adab say aap ko samjha raha hoon, to please iss qism ki tehreer say guraiz karein aur aesi batoon say ijtinaab karein...warna URDU speaking nation mein bhi bohat say MIR JAFFER,MIR SADIQ jesay SHAMEFUL aap kay buzurg bhi hein....
The chief justice observed it appeared that the government had a dream at night and it removed the houbara bustard from the list of protected birds next morning.
Shameful to say the least that these corrupt bast@rds will sell each and everything in this country just to make a penny. If only we were not so dumb to sit back and let it all happen.
