BAHAWALPUR: The wildlife department claims to have arrested nine people on Monday on charges of illegal hunting of birds, including a precious species of falcon, in Cholistan desert.

Bahawalpur division Wildlife Deputy Director Chaudhry Anwar Mann told Dawn that one of the suspects, Asif, a resident of village 40, Yazman tehsil, was taken into custody about 80km from here for illegal poaching of falcon. His motorcycle, belongings and hunting weapons were also seized by the raiding team.

Each falcon fetched millions of rupees for poachers in the international market and its customers mostly included princes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Gulf states.

Mann said that with the season of the migratory birds’ arrival in Cholistan setting in, the department would make all efforts to thwart poachers’ attempts at illegal hunting of the bird.

He further said the remaining people arrested included five from Cholistan, and one each from the Cholistan border within Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur districts. He said the arrested poachers would be produced in court for summary trial.

Meanwhile, the Bahawalpur zoo acquired a male Urial deer from the Lahore zoo.

Zoo Curator Ayub Sabir told Dawn that they acquired the male Urial after he sent a request to Punjab Wildlife Director General Ayyaz Mahmood. He said the Bahawalpur zoo already had two female Urial deer and needed a male for breeding purposes.

He further told Dawn that efforts were afoot to get Rs100 million sanctioned from the Punjab government to import a pair of elephants. Earlier, he said, the zoo management committee wanted to import only a male elephant, but now in a summary sent to the wildlife director general, funds had been sought for a pair.

PEACE: The provincial interfaith unity committee -- Ittehad Bainul Muslimeen -- led by Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad urged all sects to demonstrate peace and unity during Muharram.

The high-level meeting held on Monday at the Circuit House was attended by members of divisional/district peace committees, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Riffat Mukhtar Raja, District Police Officer Dr Akhtar Abbas Gondal, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rana Saleem Afzal and officials of the law enforcement agencies.

Azad and other members of the committee stressed that the code of ethics be adopted strictly under which nobody should deliver hate speech or sermon. The RPO said during Muharram, routes of processions would be strictly followed for which police would start taking security measures from the sighting of the moon. The committee members also demonstrated against the Myanmar government over its atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims.

KITE FLYING: Kotwali and Hasilpur police claimed to have arrested three youths during an anti-kite flying campaign, and seized kites and strings from their possession.

POLIO: A three-day anti-polio campaign was launched in the district on Monday.

DC Afzal inaugurated the drive during which 600,000 children up to five years of age would be administered polio drops by teams of 11,000 health employees.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017