The Supreme Court (SC) has removed the objections raised by its registrar on a petition filed against the hunting of rare species of migratory birds and admitted the petition for hearing.
The court has issued notices to Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) and the four advocate generals and sought assistance from them in the last week of July.
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja has remarked, “Why does the provincial governments not stop Arab princes from hunting rare species of birds? Is it so because they are monarchs? As per the constitution the federation is not entitled to interfere in the powers of provinces. Birds are the beauty of universe, therefore, they should be protected.”
He gave these remarks while presiding over a three-member bench of SC during the course of hearing of a petition filed by one Amir Zahoor, a citizen from Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
The petitioner said in the petition that Arab princes were accorded permission to hunt 100 birds daily but they killed 2100 birds in one day.
Registrar raised the objection that this was not a matter of public interest nor was it a case of any public importance.
The court inquired who gave its permission.
Raja Farooq, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that foreign ministry had given its permission. Provincial law is in place for protection of wild life but federation has no such law.
Counsel for the petitioner said the federation and not the provincial governments have accorded permission for this hunting. These birds have flown from Siberia and have reached Pakistan and strength of these birds has been reduced by 60 per cent as compared to other birds in the world. Their specie has gone rare, therefore, hunting of these birds be got stopped.
The hearing of the case was adjourned till last week of July.