PESHAWAR: The federal government’s instructions to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to stop issuing permits for hunting non-exportable trophies in the province is causing unrest in the provincial wildlife department and local communities, which insist the move has threatened the over $1 million permits already sold.

The controversy over the hunting permits for markhor and grey gorals emerged when the wildlife department received minutes of a recent meeting with the climate change and environmental coordination ministry where minister Musadik Masood Malik was in the chair.

“The chair directed that a legal opinion be obtained to clarify the matter and that a subsequent meeting be convened to finalise the non-exportable quota in line with relevant international conventions. Till that time, no quotas for non-exportable trophies will be allocated by any province,” reads minutes of the meeting available with Dawn.

Sources in KP wildlife department told Dawn that the federal ministry of climate change and environmental coordination had bound intermediaries, formally called outfitters, to take no objection certificates before moving permit holders to the region for hunting, a move that was an encroachment on the province’s jurisdiction.

Wildlife dept insists permit restriction encroachment on its domain will discourage hunters

In a formal response to the federal government’s NOC move, the KP wildlife department has feared that the restriction would discourage hunters, mostly foreigners.

It said that Section-11 of the KP Wildlife and Biodiversity (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2015, declared that “All wild animals, free ranging or captive, tamed or untamed, found within the territorial jurisdiction of the province shall be deemed to be the property of the government.”

The official documents reveal that the management of wildlife within the province vests with the KP wildlife department as per provision of the said act. In this context, matters relating to non-exportable hunting quota, which do not involve international trade appropriately, remain within the provincial regulatory framework and are not in contravention to the act ibid. The wildlife department has informed the federal government in its reply that “Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Rules, 20218 has no provisions to determine local Quotas.”

Also, under the Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act, 20212, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Management Authority is mandated to regulate matters relating to export, import and re-export of wild fauna and flora.

Rules 3 of the Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Rules, 2019 provides that the functions of the Management Authority include coordination, facilitation and consideration of advice from the scientific authority and relevant stakeholders.

The rules say that decisions concerning wildlife conservation and management benefits for provincial units shall be made in light of close consultation with the provincial government with a view to develop informed and consensus-based outcomes consistent with constitutional devolution and field realities.

An official of the wildlife department told Dawn that six permits for hunting gray goral had been sold for $398,500 and one of them had already been used.

He added that action on other permits had got blocked as the federal wildlife authority had linked it with its permission.

The official insisted that hunters were reluctant to approach that authority.

He also said the wildlife department had sold 11 permits of non-exportable trophies for $553,300 and only five of them had been used.

The official said that 80 per cent of the revenue generated from the sale of permits was spent on the welfare of communities in the respective areas, while the rest went to the exchequer.

He said the community’s share was spent on public welfare initiatives.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2026