The Green Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued notices to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and officials of Wildlife and Environment department for public display of endangered white tigers.
The PML-N had emerged victorious in the historic May 11 polls and is set to form governments in centre, Punjab and Balochistan. Public display of tigers was a regular feature in the election rallies of the PML-N which had contested polls with ‘tiger’ as its symbol.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah heard the petition filed by animal rights’ activist Faryal Ali Gohar supported by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) asking the court to take notice of the issue.
The bench after preliminary hearing, issued notices to Secretary Environment, Secretary Wildlife, Secretary General of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Ministry of Climate Change.
The court sought a detailed response on the number of licenses that have been issued in the past five years for the import of endangered wildlife animals.
Moreover, the respondents were also asked to provide information on the capacity in which the endangered animals were publicly displayed.
The case was subsequently adjourned till June 21st.