ONLY this year a courageous and conscientious game warden in Balochistan, Jaffar Baloch, blew the whistle on the massacre of houbara bustards by a Saudi prince. His hunting party is believed to have killed2,100 houbarasinstead ofa100.
Considering this expose as an embarrassment for the government, this game warden was punished and removed from his post. This peaceful and beautiful bird migrates to our climes for succour but it gets slaughtered for its travails.
The killing season has started and this time there is a further twist to this unfortunate saga because the government under international pressure from WWF has declared a moratorium against houbara hunting. No hunting permits for houbara could be issued but the Arab sheikhs have been invited to come and poach.
They have been welcomed by our dignitaries and given of ficial security as well. Do we have any compassion or for that matter any shame? India does not permit any Arab regardless of his pedigree to come and hunt, even though Indians have white-collar jobs in Arab lands. I hope civil society and wildlife lovers in Pakistan move against this activity.
