ALMOST twice a year, hunters hailing mainly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) but also from abroad visit Balochistan looking for rare birds, like cranes and quails. They hunt over a vast area in Zhob, Lasbela, Killa Saifullah and Loralai districts, setting up camps for illegal poaching through massive nets to catch more and more birds and species.

The unwanted ‘tourists’ are hosted by the local people, especially the tribal chiefs and other area influentials. They stay here for 2-3 weeks and then return to their respective areas, taking the birds with them either secretly or under the very nose of the local wildlife officials and security personnel. Some officials do try their best to dismantle these hunting camps and impose fines on those violating the rules, but they mostly fail because those violating the rules happen to be more powerful than those who are implementing them.

In KP, the relevant department issues licences to hunters for 2-3 weeks during which they are allowed to trap a limited number of the rare birds. The amount paid against these licences is deposited in the national exchequer.

The provincial government should follow suit in Balochistan. This will surely generate revenue for the province against an activity that is currently taking place anyway.

It is quite obvious that controlling the activity is beyond the means that are made available by the government to the wildlife department, and there is no way of stopping the hunters from across the KP. I have watched this illegal activity by these poachers for the last 20 years.

Guldar Ali Khan Wazir
Zhob

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024