Footprints: Hunting and rural livelihoods

Published December 16, 2014
.—Creative Commons
.—Creative Commons
.—AFP/File
.—AFP/File

AFTER crossing Lunikot and the bridge over the Nai Baran stream while travelling towards Karachi from Hyderabad on the Superhighway, a small metalled road connects the highway to a village called Jhangri in Thatta. After around 10km, hilly terrain connects the area with the Darwat Dam. This is an area outsiders hardly visit.

People living in Jhangri and nearby villages witness hustle and bustle in their area usually between October and December. This is the time when members of royal families from the Gulf states start descending upon their area to hunt the famed houbara bustard, an internationally-protected bird.

Also read: BHC bans houbara bustard hunting in Balochistan

Jhangri and its vicinity are also referred to as Kohistan. From a considerable distance I can see tents pitched on barren land. This is the site where only a day before a top Bahraini royal was staying to hunt the houbara.

“It is now being wound up as the sheikh has already left. Now his manager and other staff are busy packing up,” says Moharram, a well-built guard. Carrying an assault rifle, he does not let me move any further. “You can’t go towards the camp,” he says and puts me through to the sheikh’s Bahrain-born Indian Muslim manager Sabir on his mobile phone.

Tent cities

Sabir says it takes around 60 to 70 days to establish a camp. It involves loading and offloading of huge paraphernalia, accessories and goods to ensure setting up of a tent city with facilities fit for royalty. Manpower is obtained locally to ensure supplies of edibles, electricity, water and other commodities, but through selective contacts. Then there are trained men, including doctors, who take care of the falcons that hunt the houbara.

Locals say the Arab royals visit the area yearly and according to Moharram he has been performing his duty at this campsite for the past 14 years. “We start performing our duties even before their arrival, right up till the time they leave. It is a 12-hour shift and a pair of gunmen is present round-the-clock. We get around Rs40,000 to Rs60,000,” he says.

Know more: Arab royal hunts down 2,100 houbara bustards in three week safari

Like Thar, Kohistan is also witnessing a dry spell, which has diminished possibilities of the houbara’s arrival in the area in desired numbers this year. When asked about the reported arrival of dignitaries from Qatar in the area, Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Sohail Adeeb Bachani tells this reporter: “I don’t have any intimation about the arrival or visit of any Arab dignitary to date in my area.”

The area in question is under the influence of Malik Asad Sikandar, a local tribal chief and MNA, who facilitates the Arab guests by providing manpower in the shape of gunmen like Moharram or Mir Chakkar, who was guarding the camp of a Qatari sheikh located around 20km away from Jhangri in Jamshoro district.

Making investments

“We don’t even take a stone from here. Rather, we bring mineral water with us,” says Sabir whom I finally manage to meet up. “We bring $1 million, which is almost equivalent to 100 million in Pakistani currency. This is invested here at different levels. I get a goat for double the market price as locals know that we have money,” he says. “We pump money into this area in ways that help support the local economy. A large number of local families are engaged with us as they earn enough money to buy them food for a year.

“For instance”, he says, “the daleel (the man who spots the houbara) gets Rs6,000 or so regardless of the fact whether the houbara is hunted or not.”

However, inhabitants of Jhangri, who mostly belong to the Shoro tribe, say in order to enjoy the Arab largesse, they must have connections to people like Malik Asad.

Teenager Wazir Ali Shoro’s father and other family members claim that the land where the Bahraini sheikh’s camp is set up belongs to them. But they don’t get any rent. Wazir Ali and his cousin were hired as dishwashers in the kitchen. “I got Rs40,000 for two and a half months. Last year I got Rs53,000,” says Ali.

Did he try the houbara’s meat, I ask him. “Yes I ate it four times. Bohat garam tha,” he answers smiling broadly amidst laughter. His father, however, interjects to say that he should have been paid Rs75,000 as he remained there for 70 or so days round-the-clock.

“Our [Shoros’] tribal chief doesn’t take interest in these affairs so Malik Asad’s men get the benefit. They are handsomely paid even for menial jobs,” says a Shoro community member. “They [Arab royals] don’t take any interest in community affairs in our area. Elsewhere they have built seminaries or mosques. But no such thing here,” he complains.

A journey of around 20km took us near another campsite. A few tents pitched there were facing the Surjano hills. I ask the gunman, Mir Chakkar, if it is possible to meet the visiting dignitaries. “The sheikh is sleeping” comes the reply. Instead, a man apparently from the Qatari government’s security detail in Arab dress, who introduces himself as Ahmed, comes up to meet me.

“We are here to train falcons in order to enable them to hunt the houbara when we finally go for the hunt in the second leg of our tour in Balochistan.” He said the falcons are kept in a completely closed tent. “Wind speed here is very high, which doesn’t suit them [falcons],” he remarks before returning to his tent.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2014*

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