LAHORE, May 9: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has accepted actor and social worker Feryal Ali Gauhar’s petition for a ban on display of wild animals at political rallies and is awaiting response from defendants.

On Wednesday night, a white (albino) Bengal tiger was brought to the Lahore veterinary hospital in an extremely delicate condition. The tiger had been displayed in a public rally led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Maryam Nawaz and was said to be exposed to heat, dust, noise and general confusion, which caused the animal exhaustion and dehydration.

The incident made Ms Gauhar to file a petition in the LHC and write a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan about the pressing issue of displaying wild animals at political rallies.

Environment and wildlife activists say animal's exposure to such crowds and such an environment means abuse to the animal and a potential threat to the public present. “My agenda is not political,” Ms Gauhar told Dawn. “It is about the fact that a vulnerable

animal is being exposed to a situation endangering its health. This is just not done.”

WWF Biodiversity Director Uzma Khan says the tiger has a small triangular pattern on its hind leg. She said it was not a rare Siberian tiger, in fact, it was an albino Bengal tiger.

Ms Gauhar’s letter and petition refer to two main clauses. In June 2011, the Federal Ministry of Climate Change (formerly known as the Federal Ministry of Environment) had approved Guidelines for the Acquisition and Management of Wild Felids in Captivity after consulting all provincial wildlife departments and leading environmental conservation organisations such as WWF Pakistan and IUCN Pakistan. The guidelines had the following clauses:

“Clause 9.5: No cat species can be housed by the roadside in access of pedestrians or in areas that are common for public, where there can be a threat to the public or a Felid could be provoked to cause injury to the public” and “Clause 9.6: No Felid species will be made to walk in public areas whether it is on a leash or in a cage.”

Despite this being made illegal, the PML-N, which has been allocated the symbol of a tiger by the ECP, has continually flouted the rule.

“It is concerned with all those whose symbols are of animals and who parade them around,” said Ms Gauhar. “I know of an independent candidate from Rawalpindi who is parading around a deer tied on a rope, that too in this heat. Where is the humanity?”

Her petition also points out to the fact that the PML-N in the past had been asserting this assigned political symbol through exhibition of live wild felids in political campaigns and public rallies.

It says: “Just to quote three instances: A white tiger was translocated to Gujranwala for the rally of PML-N on Dec 31, 2011, and in another political rally in Lahore by PML-N in October 2011. Also, in a local political gathering of the PML-N in Lahore on March 21, 2012, a tiger was made to appear in the open for entertainment purposes…The Constitution places a duty on ECP under Article 218 (3) to organise and conduct elections and to make arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with the law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against. In addition, Article 220 of the Constitution places mandatory duty of all executive authorities in the Federation and in the Provinces to assist the ECP in discharge of its functions. No election can be fair if a major political party is allowed to flout the law of the land.

Therefore this matter falls directly under the ambit of authorities and powers entrusted to the ECP by the Constitution.”

In Karachi also, the PML-N exposed a tawny lioness during their rally on Wednesday.

In her appeal, Ms Gauhar has said exploitation and misuse of political symbols by any political party be declared prohibited and included in the code of conduct for political parties and candidates for the general election 2013; the PML-N should be warned in advance against displaying endangered animals in political campaigns and mass public gatherings, as this is tantamount to unfair and illegal practice; competent authorities at both federal and provincial levels should be instructed to take appropriate action in case such violations of laws take place and cruel treatment is meted to wild animals and public safety is compromised; and environmental issues and duty of political parties to respect the law regarding them should be made part of public awareness advertisements being run by the ECP.