AS the winter sets in, a tug of war continues between the hunter-funded lobbies and conservationists. One group is trying to persuade the government to continue with its houbara bustard policy, while the other wants that hunting be banned for a few years so the dwindling population of that threatened bird can resurrect itself.

A resident of Central Asia, the houbara bustard comes to winter in the comparatively warmer environment offered by Pakistan. Earlier it used to travel further south down to the Arabian peninsula but the Arabs fell for the myth that its meat was aphrodisiacal and soon killed the entire migratory flock. The bird is protected internationally and its hunting, netting, etc is banned in Pakistan as well — at least for the locals.

After wiping out the entire houbara population at home, the Arab hunters with their petro-fuelled lifestyles found their way to Pakistan in the 1970s. They are lavish with their gifts and pay off those who matter. Rational thinking takes the biggest blow in this orgy of the debauched. An endangered species, despite the concerns voiced year after year by conservationists and wildlife scientists, continues to be decimated in the most barbaric manner imaginable.

Some time back one of the largest international nature conservation NGOs launched a campaign against the slaughter of the houbara bustard. The hunters got angry and sent a minister who said they only visit Pakistan when the government invites them to come and hunt. We are law-abiding people, he said, and will not hunt if we are not issued hunting permits. The hunters meantime 'won over' the top officials of the NGO concerned. Several head honchos who were in the forefront of the campaign against hunting are now espousing a policy completely at odds with their earlier take.

Recently the federal environment ministry, also supported by the foreign ministry, sent a proposal to the prime minister to impose a ban on hunting for three to five years. The proposal however remains with the prime minister, with a decision pending for over six months now.

The hunter-backed lobby has now come up with the wholly unsustainable concept of the 'sustainable' hunting of the houbara. Their argument, in the main, is that hunters spend large amounts on developing the areas they focus on and help provide employment. Some hunters also go for charity work. What's more, it is argued, the government could urge hunters to hire people to keep a check on illegal hunting and netting by small-time poachers to ensure the houbara that visit our shores return home in sustainable numbers.

Another plea offered by the hunting lobby and bureaucrats is that Pakistan's relations with the UAE will suffer if houbara-hunting is banned across the board. That really is a pathetic excuse. Does Pakistan's relationship with the Emirates depend on whether or not a threatened migratory bird should be killed en masse? Is that the basis of our understanding on core issues?

One argument that does make sense is that houbara-hunting should be banned in all the range states if it is to be effective. The transboundary ban is an ideal state of affairs. But if other countries do not accept it, it should not be taken as justification for the genocide witnessed in Pakistan. The other part of the argument does not carry much weight on account of the law and order situation. We should understand that hunters come here not out of their love for us but for the pleasure of hunting. Their enthusiasm may be on the wane this year but that is purely for security reasons.

Our decision-makers should understand that sustainable hunting must follow certain criteria. One, independently collected authentic data regarding the population of birds and status of species and, two, a monitoring mechanism that ensures the bag limit is followed irrespective of the hunter's clout.

There is no credible data regarding the houbara bustards that visit Pakistan each winter and as such it is impossible to quantify how many birds can be culled without imperilling the breeding stock. The second and most crucial point is the implementation of hunting laws and ensuring a bag limit. The ground reality is that when Arab hunters descend on our shores they are awarded the highest protocol possible. Low-level wildlife department staffers cannot even dare go near the hunters' camps and check the bag limit.

Normally there are four security cordons at the hunting camp. The first cordon is the hunter's own security, two other cordons relate to the law-enforcement agency personnel while the fourth is that of the police. Everyone knows that the wildlife department is powerless when it comes to dealing with Arab dignitaries. So what we see, year on year, is a merciless slaughter.

So the ground realities suggest that monitoring the bag limit is simply not possible in this case. The only way to prevent the slaughter of the houbara is to stop issuing hunting permits. The hunters, who are members of Arab aristocracy, would not engage in illegal activity, at least not publicly. But once the hunting permits are awarded, no one can ensure that the bag limit will be observed.