Environment dept officials summoned

PESHAWAR: The PHC has summoned the top officials of the Environment Department on February 4 for not allowing a local to import two elephants for the Peshawar Zoo.

The Advocate General KP Shumail Ahmad Butt told a division bench of the PHC comprising Justice Qaisar Rashid and Justice Abdul Shakoor that experts from Zimbabwe have visited the zoo who suggested some measures for the elephants and the government has taken those measures. He added that permission from international committees was a must for transporting any animal from another country. The court after summoning the secretary and director general of the Environment Department adjourned the case till February 4. The petitioner, Mohammad Hanif, has moved the court against the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments and others for not allowing him to import two elephants from Zimbabwe to Peshawar. The petitioner asked the court to direct the government to grant him a no-objection certificate (NOC) and give him a reasonable time for transporting the two elephants from Zimbabwe. The petitioner asked the court to direct the government not to create any hurdle to the transportation of the elephants. He added that the respondents be directed to return the Rs92 million along with all the expenses in case of their failure in granting NOC and extension of time period for transporting elephants to the Peshawar Zoo. —Bureau report