ISLAMABAD: The government admitted in the National Assembly on Thursday that the foreign ministry during 2012-13 had allowed 13 members of the royal family of United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hunt 1,300 houbara bustards, a protected species in the country.

The information was placed before the house in response to a question asked by Naeema Kishwar Khan of the JUI-F.

“In total 13 members of the UAE royal family visited Pakistan during 2012-13 for the sole purpose of hunting during which they were allowed to hunt a maximum of 100 birds (each),” the house was told through a written answer by the ministry of foreign affairs.

Accepting that HB is a protected species in the country, the house was told that each year steps were taken for breeding and conservation of the birds in the area.

Taking part in the debate, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan equated illegal HB hunting practice with the selling of self esteem of the country just to make a few people happy. “We have to stop such practices in future, as it only lowers prestige of the countrymen in the eyes of others.”

This was the reason, said Mr Khan, that incidents such as offloading of Sheikh Rashid Ahmad from a flight took place in the country.

He also recalled stoppage of Maulana Fazalur Rehman by the UAE officials from entering into the emirate in the past, his five-hour interrogation last year at the Toronto airport when he was boarding a US-bound flight. “As long as we will keep on selling ourselves, nobody will respect us,” said Mr Khan.

Answering a supplementary question, Khurram Dastgir Khan said the government had an elaborate code of conduct in place for HB hunting in the country, which the present government had been ensuring to be fully implemented.