ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the federal government to come up with a legal instrument to justify its perceived resistance to the import of elephants for a zoological garden.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed also asked Deputy Attorney General Maulvi Ejazul Haq to furnish a detailed report highlighting what legal procedures needed to be followed to import endangered species such as elephants.

The DAG told the court that animal import was governed under the Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act 2012, but he would furnish a report before the court to detail procedures for the import of elephants.

At the last hearing in November 2020, the apex court, while granting leave to appeal, had issued notices to the climate change ministry, inspector general (forests), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forestry Environment and Wildlife secretary, KP Wildlife chief conservator and Peshawar Zoo director.

Petitioner firm claims its investment has been adversely affected due to inaction by federal govt

The court had taken up an appeal moved by a firm, Mohammad Hanif and Engineer Construction Pvt Ltd, challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) Sept 17, 2020 order rejecting the plea for import of the plant-eating mammals.

The petition, filed through Advocate Niaz Wali Khan, regretted that the firm had already purchased two elephants from the Zimbabwe government, besides bearing the cost of their food and upkeep, but it was now being denied to import the same for the Peshawar Zoo.

Earlier, in May 2020, the Islamabad High Court had decreed relocation of Kaavan, an elephant, from Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo since he had been subjected to unimaginable pain and suffering for decades and his continued captivity in the circumstances would expose the authorities to criminal consequences under the relevant laws.

Kaavan was gifted by Sri Lanka in 1985 when he was one year old and for more than three decades Kaavan has been kept chained in a small enclosure, with the absence of conditions required to meet the physiological, social and behavioural needs of this extraordinary species of living beings.

The IHC had also ordered that all animals be moved to their sanctuaries due to the poor state of the zoo.

Unfortunately, two lions had died in July last year while being transferred from Islamabad Zoo to a private lion farm in Lahore.

According to the fresh petition, the Ministry of Climate Change had assured the PHC during the hearing of the firm’s petition in 2019 that the grievance of the petitioner would be redressed within a month.

When the same was not done, the petitioner again moved the PHC in 2020 for implementation of the assurance contained in the high court’s judgement of Feb 4, 2020. The contempt of the court petition, however, was dismissed by the high court on the grounds that no contempt had been committed by the government.

The petition explained that the petitioner was a registered firm possessing sufficient experience of transportation and import of different animals to different zoos across the country. The firm had applied and participated in a bidding process for the import of Samber deer, barking deer, double-humped camels, zebras, tigers, elephants, etc, for Peshawar Zoo.

During the bidding process, the firm was declared successful as the competent authority accepted its rates for different animals as per the specification issued in the tender form.

After meeting codal formalities, the petitioner received a work order by the Peshawar Zoo director for the supply of the animals needed for the zoo.

The petitioner ensured the supply of some animals after arranging them locally, whereas zebras and tigers had to be imported from Johannesburg (South Africa) for which a proper No-Objection Certificate (NOC) was issued to the petitioner firm by the federal and provincial governments as well as Peshawar Zoo.

Later, the petitioner visited Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in search of best elephants, two in number, for Peshawar zoo. The Zimbabwe government agreed on transportation of the mammals to Pakistan and visited the location to study environment of Peshawar zoo.

The officials of the Zimbabwe Part Wildlife Department thoroughly inspected the site and found it conducive and favourable for the elephants and this information was also placed on the official website of the Zimbabwe government, the petition claimed.

After meeting all formalities as laid down by the Zimbabwe government, the petitioner was allowed transportation of the elephants through the provincial government subject to obtaining NOC from the federal government.

On Nov 6, 2019, the petitioner was also granted permission by the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) for transportation of the elephants, but the climate change ministry delayed the same without providing any justification, the petition regretted.

CITES is an international agreement between governments and functions to ensure that the international trade in the specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Subsequently, the firm submitted an application to the climate change ministry, seeking NOC for transportation of the elephants. But it was delayed by the ministry without mentioning any reasons and ultimately it was refused citing the ban imposed by CITES on Nov 27, 2019 through a resolution.

Arguing that the PHC had not disposed of the petition on merit, the petitioner claimed that all its investment had been adversely affected due to the inaction on the part of the federal government.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2021