RAHIM YAR KHAN: Traders associated with Zilaee Anjuman Tajraan (ZAT) and students of Sheikh Khalifa Public School and Sheikh Zayed School held rallies here on Thursday in protest against a ban on hunting by Arab rulers.

A powerful businessman linked to leaders of the ruling party is said to be behind the demonstrations held to express solidarity with UAE rulers.

The traders had started erecting large banners and hoardings inscribed with slogans supporting UAE rulers on main roads of the city on Tuesday and their number increased on Wednesday and Thursday.

A number of billboards contained pictures of late UAE ruler Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and its current President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Traders from the Rahim Yar Khan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RYKCCI), Anjuman-i-Arhtiyan Ghalla Mandi, Anjuman-i-Tajran Sadiq Bazaar, Railway Road and Phool Market marched from Railway Chowk to City Chowk.

Addressing the protesters, their traders urged the government to revoke the ban on hunting. They claimed that their business had been affected because the UAE leaders had stopped coming to Rahim Yar Khan.

About 30 students of Sheikh Zayed Public School protested outside the school by removing their shirts and bending on their knees. Two students told this correspondent that their teacher had ordered them to do so.

The father of one of the students protested against the school administration’s move to involve their children in an activity that had no importance for them.

DCO retired Cap Muhammad Zafar Iqbal said the students were enacting a play. “Some naughty children themselves posed as serving ‘murga’ punishment only for the media,” he tried to clarify.

On Wednesday, former parliamentary secretary retired Major Tanveer Hussain Syed said at a press conference that nobody would be allowed to destroy the wildlife of the country. He said some ‘vested interests’ were indulging in the activity for the sake of their business.

RYKCCI executive member Chaudhry Jahanzeb said a leading business having close relations with Arabs and PML-N leaders was behind the protests because of his personal interests.

Another trader claimed that the rallies were held not for the UAE rulers’ arrival in Rahim Yar Khan but to protect the large business empire of a prominent business personality. He claimed that each PML-N candidate for LG polls had been given the target of bringing at least 100 people for the rally by a parliamentarian.

ZAT spokesman Akbar Ali Shaheen said Arab leaders always saved wildlife and the traders were demonstrating their support for them so that they (Arab rulers) could make more efforts for wildlife.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015