KARACHI, Dec 17: Foreign dignitaries who are issued special permits to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustard do not follow the mandatory guidelines and violate the protection laws, it has been learnt.

According to sources, the provincial wildlife department is helpless in this matter as in view of diplomatic sensitivities, it cannot take action against the violators, who are either rulers or high-ranking government officials or members of the ruling families of their respective countries.

The sources said almost all the arid zone – which is the habitat of the houbara bustard – in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan has been allocated to foreign dignitaries for their houbara bustard safaris.

The sources said the violations by the dignitaries included hunting more birds than allowed, not paying taxes on falcons, seeking assistance from private persons, purchasing live houbara bustards, not giving information to wildlife staff deputed with them for monitoring etc.

The sources said that though wildlife is a provincial subject, keeping in view the interest of foreign dignitaries in the hunting of the bustards, which migrate from the Central Asian region habitat to the country every winter, it has been taken away from the provincial jurisdiction and handed over to the foreign ministry.

In a communication to the federal government, the Sindh government has highlighted the issues owing to which its staff is powerless to implement the hunting guidelines issued with the hunting permits and the dignitaries, who sometimes might also not be aware that they are violating a law, get away with the violation.

The Sindh Wildlife Department in its Dec 16, 2008 letter to the federal Environment Ministry’s National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW) points out that the houbara bustard (Chaimydotis undulate) is protected under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1972 and its hunting, trapping or possession is banned but under the federal government’s directions, the SWPO 1972 is amended every year and the houbara is taken away from the ‘protected list’ to the ‘non-protected list’ during the hunting season – normally from November to February.

It says that hunting permits, issued by the federal government, are sent to the Sindh government very late – even after one month or more after the start of the hunting season – as a result of which it becomes very difficult to regulate or monitor the hunting properly, which sometimes creates conflicts among the dignitaries also.

When the SWD deputes its representatives to the dignitaries, the SWD staffers are neither duly respected nor given access to collect the hunting data from the dignitaries, who do not follow the guidelines provided with the hunting permission.

So the role of the provincial government is restricted only to assisting the dignitaries, who are state guests, and the provincial government cannot take any direct action against the violators and can only report the matter to the quarters concerned. It says that the federal government does not mention the exclusion of protected areas in the hunting permits, so it becomes difficult to prohibit dignitaries from hunting in protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries in Ghotki, Sukkur, Khairpur, Nawabshah and Tharparkar and Khirthar National Park in Malir, Jamshoro and Dadu districts.

The SWD says that in the hunting permits “there are certain limits and restrictions for dignitaries for adherence such as establishment of hunting camps, hunting period, bag limit, hunting by falcons only, trapping and purchase of houbara bustards etc. But all these restrictions are not being followed by the dignitaries in letter and spirit.”

It says that the “dignitaries should be advised to discourage the purchase of live houbara bustards, because netting and trapping is the main threat to the houbara population.”

The SWD has demanded that the provincial governments be empowered to stop hunting on violation of the SWPO 1972 and guidelines issued by the federal government. The letter says that “all dignitaries be informed in their allocation orders for the payment of provincial taxes and falcon possession fees to the wildlife department.”

It stresses that the dignitaries be advised to regulate and carry out hunting with official assistance and discourage personal assistance of private persons. Dignitaries should assist and help the government for strengthening its ward and watch system during houbara hunting season and protection and conservation of wildlife in general.

The sources said that the dignitaries often pampered local influential people, politicians, bureaucrats and even some so-called nature conservation NGOs by giving them expensive gifts – ranging from expensive four wheel-drive vehicles and gold-plated chronographs to satellite phones and all-expenses-paid trips to their countries – depending on the worth and nuisance value of the person, who in turn ensured that the government continued issuing houbara hunting permits to the dignitaries.

The sources said that if issuing the permits to the dignitaries, which was in violation of the international nature conservation commitments done by the government, was vital then at least these dignitaries be asked to spend money, that they otherwise give to the politicians, bureaucrats and local influential people etc, on health, education-related development projects in the areas where they hunt so that at least the local poor got some benefit from it.