KARACHI: A senior officer of the Balochistan Forest and Wildlife Department (BFWD) was transferred within four days of raising objection to violations by foreign dignitaries of code of conduct for hunting of houbara bustard in the province, according to reliable sources.

The sources told Dawn on Sunday that Chief Conservator of Forests (South) Balochistan, Taj Mohammad, was transferred on Dec 8, exactly four days after he had written a letter to the provincial government on Dec 4, pointing out that the foreign dignitaries neither obtained permits from, nor paid prescribed fees to, the department, for hunting of the rare bird.

The sources quoted the letter titled “Visit of dignitaries to different areas in Balochistan” as saying “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, allocates every year different areas to Arab dignitaries for hunting of houbara bustard in the province without consulting the BFWD.

“According to Balochistan Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2014, and under Regulation (f) Part – D, Schedule 1 of the Act, each dignitary is required to have a valid hunting permit issued by the conservator of Wildlife and National Parks, Quetta, in lieu of a fee of Rs10 million. Besides, the dignitaries were also required to pay fee to the province for import, export and possession of each falcon.

“The dignitaries do not honour the provincial laws and hunt the bird without having valid permits from the authority, which is a clear violation of provincial wildlife laws.

The letter said that in effect the ministry excluded the role of BFWD from the hunting areas, rendering field staffers unable to implement provincial laws.

“There are two options, either BFWD staffers may be given full access to the hunting areas to implement laws or they may be relieved from these responsibilities to avoid future litigations.

“It is requested that the foreign ministry be asked to develop a liaison with BFWD to ensure compliance of terms of hunting permits and SOPs made during a meeting at Prime Minister’s House on March 18, 2016,” said the letter.

The response to the officer’s letter came after four days in the form of his transfer orders. BFWD secretary Umer Baber issued a notification on Dec 8, which said, “with the prior approval of competent authority Chief Conservator of Forest (South), (BS 20) Taj Mohammad has been transferred and directed to report to the secretary BFWD”, said the sources.

The notification said the transfer had been made in the best interest of public service with immediate effect and until further orders.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017