Citizens express anger over govt’s stand on houbara bustards

Karachi
A group of concerned citizens from the movement, the Mahol Dost Shehri, staged a demonstration against the government’s stand on the hunting by Arab rulers of houbara bustards in Pakistan.
The government has called for a review of the Supreme Court decision to impose an immediate ban on the hunting of the houbara bustard as, according to them, the ban would damage Pakistan’s relations with the Arab countries.
The demonstration, which was staged near the Khadda market, in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), comprised citizens of all age groups and social strata.
They held aloft placards reading “Foreign Office, stop issuing illegal permits to kill the Houbara”, “Houbaras welcome, Sheikhs not”, “Did you know Houbara Bustard? On your wings rests the fragile foreign policy of Pakistan”, “Talor ka qatal band karo, qanoon ka ehteram karo” and others.
The protesters seemed to be really charged while expressing their views to the media.
Talking to The News, Naeem Sadiq, a member of the movement, said: “Hunting of the bird which has already been declared an endangered species is criminal. The government must not go to the Supreme Court on the issue as the apex judiciary has already pronounced its verdict.”
He went on to say, “Houbara bustard should not form the pivot of our foreign policy.”
Noted social activist and educationist Rumana Husain, while talking to The News, said: “The government says that houbara hunting is the pillar of our foreign policy. Thus is absolutely ridiculous.”
She was of the view that the governmental opposition to houbara bustard conservation was a matter of the vested interests of some within the ruling circles, which revolved around money.
“We won’t allow anybody to kill the houbara nor will we allow the government to prostrate before the Arab rulers, bartering away our national pride and national sovereignty,” she said, adding, “We won’t allow them to kill the houbara bustard.”
“We are as obliged to conserve our flora and fauna just as we are obliged to protect human lives,” said Humaira Khan of the Association of Defence Residents.
She said that we had already defaced our environment by indiscriminate hunting of various species and blind deforestation.
“Further hunting by foreigners of our wildlife must not be allowed. These Arab rulers have depleted the wildlife in their own countries through indiscriminate hunting and now they are casting a covetous eye on ours. We mustn’t allow that,” she said.
While this demonstration was in full swing, a motorist with a very bureaucratic bearing stopped his vehicle, stepped out of it and shouted, “Paid agents” at the demonstrators and just sped off.
A group of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) armed guards appeared on the scene and objected to the demonstration on the grounds that no previous permission from the authority for the demonstration had been sought. The argument continued between the protestors and the guards for a couple of minutes, but fortunately no unpleasantness occurred and the matter was resolved peacefully.