Pakistan: Permits to Gulf royals to hunt houbara bustard: PPP submits Calling Attention Notice in NA

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Tuesday submitted Calling Attention Notice in the National Assembly over issuance of 29 special permits to royal family members of Gulf States for hunting of internationally-protected houbara bustard, saying that the issuance of special permit by the federal government in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan was illegal.

The notice said that Pakistan was a signatory to various international nature conservation agreements and conventions and hence bound to protect the rare and endangered species.

The notice sought the Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs to brief the house over the issue.

It is to be mentioned here that the federal government has issued at least 29 special permits to royal family members of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain for hunting the internationally protected houbara bustard .

The special permits have been issued despite the fact that Pakistan is a signatory to various international nature conservation conventions and agreements and in violation of local laws and international commitments.

The permit holders had even been informed about it. But after the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, deputy chief of protocol of the foreign office Muazzam Ali issued the permits for the year 2014-15 on November 1, 2014.

The sources said that at least one president, one king, one Emir and one ruler besides two crown princes, the father and an uncle of country heads concerned are among those allowed to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustard, meat of which is considered to have aphrodisiac qualities.

The dignitary who has been given the largest area in the three provinces — Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan — is UAE president and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. As many as 11 permits — the largest number of permits issued to a Gulf state — have been given to members of Qatar’s royal family.

This is the first time that an area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been allocated for houbara hunting.