ISLAMABAD: In a major move, the Supreme Court upheld a petition seeking a ban on the issuance of permits and licences for the hunting of endangered birds and also ordered the cancellation of all existing permits in this regard.

A three-member bench headed by SC Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, who was accompanied by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, upheld a petition filed by Advocate Raja Muhammad Farooq on behalf of Aamir Zahoor-ul-Haq, said the short order of the judgement.
The bench dismissed all other petitions opposing Zahoor-ul-Haq's petition, including an application filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl provincial deputy chief Senator Maulana Attaur Rehman of the Balochistan government.

The elder from Balochistan was of the view that permitting foreign dignitaries to hunt the bird brought prosperity and welfare not only to the people, but also the province.

“The dignitaries who come to hunt the bird have not only established certain projects but are also paying Rs10 million for hunting 50 birds in the season,” Attaur Rehman had said through his counsel, Advocate Adnan Bhasharatullah, adding that the province earned approximately Rs2 billion every hunting season.

Aamir Zahoor-ul-Haq's petition requested the court to restrain the foreign affairs ministry and the wildlife department from issuing permits and licences for hunting of the endangered birds.
The petitioner had also asked the court to order the setting up of an independent commission to look into the alleged abrogation of their “statutory duty” by the respondents and violation of the provisions of permits and licences by the VIP hunters.

The petition recalled that Pakistan had imposed a permanent ban on the hunting of houbara bustards under the Third Schedule of the Pakistan Wildlife Ordinance 1971, after declaring the species a protected bird. But despite the ban, licences or permits were being issued to VIP dignitaries of the Gulf States for hunting the species.