Friday, October 31, 2014

Speaker Pakhtunkhwa Assembly PTI Asad Qasier Brother, Adnan Khan Beats up Deputy Commissioner in His Office for Taking Action Against Profiteers and Law Breakers .


Swabi Pakhutnkhwa : Officials from government departments and representatives of political parties went on strike and participated in a rally at Jirga Hall in Swabi on Thursday following Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s brother’s alleged hooliganism.

Adnan Khan is said to have manhandled Swabi Additional Assistant Commissioner Khaliq Dad Khan after a crackdown against profiteering.

According to Khaliq Dad, Adnan and his two bodyguards stormed his office on Wednesday. “They used foul language and beat me up,” Khaliq told the media. He said the Swabi Deputy Commissioner had been informed and a formal FIR had been lodged against the assembly speaker’s brother.

Khan claimed Adnan was unhappy over cases registered against some shopkeepers and butchers for overcharging and food adulteration. Adnan was told the cases were registered against the offenders and they should pursue legal recourse but he insisted on the cancellation of FIRs and retraction of cases.

Assistant Commissioner Altamash Janjua, Government Employees Coordination Council President Abdul Latif, Clerks Association representative Zakirullah Omarkhel, former nazim Ihsanul Haq Bamkhelvi and others addressed Thursday’s rally. They threatened a complete strike and further action starting Friday if Adnan is not taken to task for the misconduct. They warned relatives and aides of influential people to stay clear of the affairs of government functionaries.

Representatives of Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl also addressed the protest and accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of promoting hooliganism in the province.

Bail before arrest

Adnan obtained bail before arrest from Swabi additional sessions judge on Thursday.

He claimed he had approached the officer after receiving complaints from poor shopkeepers. Before the court, Adnan accused the officer of using foul language against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2014.

source : http://tribune.com.pk/story/783704/hooliganism-officials-take-to-the-streets-against-k-p-assembly-speakers-brother/

Friday, October 17, 2014

PTI + PAT Dharna and London Gate

Who is really behind it all? At first the agenda was hidden but now it is no more a secret. Strangely, another scandal is in the process of unearthing within a short span of two years.

Earlier, it was the Memogate. Many shocking revelations would be busted in the coming days. Analysts are labelling the new scandal as London Gate as the planning was done at the end of May in the office of a London based Pakistani businessman, Dr Ijaz Hussain, who was a former advisor to PML-Q’s Chaudhary Pervez Ellahi.

With the absence of certain factions of the PML-Q in London who all joined the PML-N, Dr Hussain did an important job. Dr Tahirul Qadri, chief of the Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT), was convinced by Dr Hussain
that he would be given the central role in Pakistani establishment if he launched a violent protest to topple the government of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, just democratically elected last May. Dr Hussain travelled with Qadri to Pakistan to introduce the Khomeini-type inqilab.
Newspapers revealed that Qadri undertook a ‘promotional tour’ of Europe and Iran before stepping into Pakistan to recruit activists
According to former Army Chief

General Mirza Aslam Baig, ‘Five years back, the Americans and the Canadians decided to unite the two schools of Islamic thought, Deobandi and Salafi, under Tahirul Qadri’s leadership to counter their
alliance in Afghanistan and Pakistan prior to the drawdown from Afghanistan’.

Qadri made an attempt in winter
2013 but miserably failed, so he was launched again.

The American and Canadian agenda
was to create a ‘secular Islam’ under Qadri and ‘liberal Pakistan’ under Imran Khan, Chairman Tahreek-i-Insaf.

Deobandis and PML-N are soft and lenient toward ‘political Islam’ – Taliban and their affiliates.

So this is a new Islamic ideological rift introduced by the West in
Pakistan.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) is more hit by both PTI and PAT. PML-N and PPP could easily accommodate JUI, so they must be ousted even by unconstitutional means, planned by the outsiders.
Why America, Britain, Canada, and Iran are behind this plan?

It is a business deal. Do they have
a common agenda? Do they want to grind their axes by overthrowing the PML-N regime?

Other than sabotaging an elected democracy in Pakistan, what was the global context of
this plan?

Many are arguing that the building of the Pakistan- China Economic Corridor was the target as Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to take a tour of Pakistan along with
other South Asian countries to sign agreements worth US$ 34 billion with Pakistan.

Following violent protests in Islamabad, Sri Lankan, and Maldives
Presidents cancelled their trips
to Pakistan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Bangladesh and Sri Lanka alone on 6-8 September. His itinerary did not include Pakistan.
Leaders of the PTI, PAT, and MQM have been making repeated statements that Pakistan should not slide into civil war.

Why such fears are on their minds? Do they want to frighten the people to support their call? Or is it the civil war on the top of their agenda? And
can’t they implement their agenda without waging civil war?

General Mirza disclosed that America, Canada, Britain, and Iran were behind the conspiracy jointly launched by the PTI and PAT against a popularly elected
Prime Minister.

United States and Britain swiftly refuted such involvements. General Mirza did not elaborate but this is very threatening evidence about the
Azadi and Inqilab Marches and sit-ins staged in Islamabad since 14 August.

Their demands went unconstitutional and legal. They used violent and brutal means in the Red Zones by attacking the Parliament, Pakistan Secretariat, Prime Minister’s House, and PTV
Headquarters.

The Taliban-type of security control was launched in front of the Pakistan Secretariat. Servicemen were checked and bhata (forced
money) was taken for many days.

Reuters verified the claim of General Mirza on 5 September that the Army halted the ouster of the embattled Prime Minister.

According to the Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique the agenda of the London plan was to topple the Nawaz Sharif government and staging of anti-government demonstrations for which a
written agreement was made
between PTI, PAT, and PML-Q.

These parties, however, categorically refused to have
signed any such written agreement.

Qadri had come to Dorchester Restaurant for a dinner on the
invitation of Chaudhary brothers,
confirmed by PML-Q’s Information Secretary Senator Kamil Ali Agha, as reported in the media. Imran was already in London to ‘see his sons’,
ostensibly.

Qadri was on a medical check-up in London ‘from Toronto’. There they
organised anti-government strategy.

Qadri flew to Pakistan via Dubai Muttahida Qaumi Movement
(MQM) was taken into confidence by Qadri in London.

The agenda of MQM in this move was to save former dictator General Pervez Musharraf from the high treason trial as being an Urdu speaking general indicted while none other was.

MQM’s chief time and again spoke of that. Therefore, the alliance between PTI, PAT, PML-Q, Awami Muslim League, Majlis Wahdatul
Musilmin (MWM), with its alleged Iranian connections and MQM against the PML-N was natural.

Why is PML-N toeing the alliance with MQM when all was odd? Media broke the news on May 30 that these parties would form the anti-government alliance.

When Article 245 was imposed in Islamabad, the Army mainly remained a bystander.

It did not fire or apprehend the violent protesters. If such demonstrations were held in Washington DC or London, for
instance, violent protesters
would have been arrested and
killed and even the staging of
such protests would not have
been allowed from the start.

Pakistan is facing, however, an unusual situation. The government was forced by even PPP, MQM and Jamat-e-Islami etc to permit a sit-in protest ( dharna ) in Islamabad’s Red Zone.

Gen Mirza did not mention Army
or ISI in his statement. Rather, he appreciated the role of General Raheel Sharif who did not allow the conspiracy to succeed. Otherwise the country would have invited the fifth military regime. General Miza did mention that all those that
surrounded General Musharraf in
1999-2008 are now with Imran
and Qadri.

This is very strange because they claimed to be the true leaders yet they are coloured in military uniforms.

Their protestors shouted ‘ Army
Zindabad’ slogans in front of the
Parliament, PTV building, and PM House. What were they trying to teach?

The Army also did not arrest or kill a single protestor while they launched a violent protest in the Red Zone. A Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations, Asmatullah Junejo, was attacked with batons on 1 September and seriously injured
and many policemen were also
injured but no one was arrested
while the Article 245 was
invoked in Islamabad.

Is it not a mockery of the Article 245 in Islamabad? What would happen
if the Article 245 was seriously needed to ward off a security threat knowing the fact that terrorism is not over yet?

Anyway, General Mirza disclosed
threatening revelations. Pakistani internal politics is yet closely linked up to global conspiracy. Global actors want to see a destabilised Pakistan.

Canadian factor is a new invention. Qadri himself is a Canadian national. Why is Canada not preventing its national from staging an agitational politics in Pakistan
while he is using unconstitutional tactics? Like Canada, Iran is a new player in this whole game of conspiracy.

Shia-led MWM threw weight behind the PTI and PAT from the very beginning.

Dr Hussain made Qadri’s contacts with Pakistani officials linked with
Iran. Is this Iran’s connection?

Government must seek clarification from Iran. Meanwhile, PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi admitted the London meeting between Imran
and Qadri.

Chaudharys of PML-Q were actively involved in the London Plan, which has now been unveiled. This looks to be a new conspiracy against the
elected democratic government
of the PML-N, which got more
than two-thirds majority but is facing the unconstitutional demands of resignation of its elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The whole Parliament, except PTI and Awami Muslim League, stands behind the Prime Minister and does not want the Prime Minister to resign.

Forthem, it would be the resignation of the Parliamentand the death of democracy.

Strangely, MQM pleaded the same in the Parliament. Pakistani democracy has grown up much. It is the failure of the dharna that the Army did not come in to impose martial law while the situation was ripe for that. The Army remained within its professional bounds. Dharna leaders cannot avoid the statements given by the president of the PTI Javed Hashmi who alleged military connotation of these parties and leaders.

Imran and his PTI proclamations
are contradictory. PTI enjoys all
privileges. Imran rides on an expensive land-cruiser, lives in
a 700-kanal house in Islamabad,
flies over a private aircraft owned by a member of his party, Jehangir Tareen, and pays tax not matching with his lifestyle. Last year, for example, he paid Rs194,936 in taxes
only. He owns 1,644 kanals land
in Mianwali and Bhakkar.

In last year’s tax return, he did not
declare his assets. While in 2012 tax return, he declared assets worth Rs35,95,000. So far the dharna has cost Rs1 billion. Who has paid and still paying this cost?

Imran, Jehangir Tareen, or Azam Swati? Are they so generous or
somebody else is behind it all? PTI claims to be a poor man and
middle class party.

Yet the assets of PTI’s leaders match with no one. In dharna Imran misinformed the people about the reasons of his divorce from Jemima Goldsmith. Reasons of their divorce were not Maulana Fazalur Rhaman
and Nawaz Sharif and her conversion from being Jewish to
embracing Islam. Jemima cited
‘health issues, grimy furniture,,load shedding, and lack of separate room for children’ as the reasons for their divorce,along with his long absence
from home for political meetings fundraising activities and workout at gym.

She did not say a single word about her Jewish connection that became
the reason of their divorce but Imran publically admitted that because politicians alleged Jemima to be a Jew, so this led to their divorce.

Imran is not even fair about the reasons of his divorce and brought
religious biases for divorce,
which is not true. Yet Imran is determined to bring a ‘change’. With the bust of the London Gate the credibility of the PTI and PAT and their collaborators is at stake now.

In this whole episode of the London Gate, the role of UK- returned Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar, Governor Punjab, is central. He is a mysterious player in this whole episode.

He is always a beneficiary in 40
years of ‘business’.

He has made dent in British politics.
What are his intentions and role
in this whole episode?

Governor Sarwar was a British Labour MP from Govan in Glasgow
(1997-2010). His son Anas,Sarwar occupies his constituency now. The former especially surrendered British
nationality to become the Governor of the Punjab.

He was present in the London meeting as was claimed by
ousted President of PTI Javed Hashmi on 20 September.

He promised to quit politics if this
would prove wrong. Hashmi is
known for his truthful politics in
Pakistan for decades.

Why was Governor Sarwar needed? He was the Governor of the Punjab and the PTI-PAT protests started from Lahore. The Model Town carnage would not have happened without his knowledge, as disclosed by Hashmi.

So Governor Sarwar was the most suitable person for PTI-PAT protestors.

Governor Sarwar did not categorically deny charges of being part of the London Plan though he was hit hard by Hashmi’s statement.

There are certain connections between Governor Sarwar and
Qadri.

The former refused to leave the Emirates flight EK 612 diverted to Lahore from Islamabad until Governor Sarwar took him in his bulletproof car in June.

Governor Sarwar took Governor Sindh Ishratul Abad in his plane to talk to Qadri at the dharna place in Islamabad’s Red Zone at the peak of the crisis. Why was he made mediator between the Government and PTI-PAT?

When Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif left Islamabad for New York to address the UN General Assembly session via London on 23 September, Governor Sarwar was busy in a press conference with MQM chief Altaf Hussain who demanded Nawaz Sharif’s resignation and offered the resignations of MQM’s MNAs to build pressure on PML-N.

MQM is behind the idea to form
a government of the technocrats. Governor Sawar and Altaf Hussain held a one- on-one meeting while Nawaz Sharif was facing ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans in front of his residence
in London on 23 September.

MQM threw full weight behind Qadri, Imran, and their dharna.

Moreover, in the worst flood-hit
time, why Governor Sarwar was
in Germany and Britain meeting
none but Altaf Hussain?

Raisingflood donations was not
government’s policy. Moreover, Governor Sarwar’s involvement in the Scottish referendum was criticised in Britain as being foreigner and involved in Scottish politics while his own province was
devastated by heavy floods.

Anas Sarwar has special ties with the PTI in Britain. As mentioned earlier that Hashmi claimed that Governor Sarwar arranged the meeting between Imran Khan and Qadri in London.

Why has PML-N not been cleaning up this mess and confusion? What are their concerns? Why have they ‘tolerated’ Governor Sarwar’s recent visit to London?

The London Gate was not unearthed, it was an open secret. The PML-N is itself part of it in the shape of Governor Sarwar from the very beginning.

This aspect should be explored
more to seek dharna’s justification and its motivations.

BY DR AHMAD
RASHID MALIK

The writer is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad. He specialises in East Asian affairs.

Source: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/10/16/comment/dharna-and-london-gate/

Friday, October 10, 2014

Iconic Malalaa Yousafzai Pashtun Girl Youngest Ever winner of Noble Peace Prize.

 

OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize went Friday to 17-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai and India’s Kailash Satyarthi for their work promoting children’s rights.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize saying that peaceful global development can only come about if children and the young are respected.

Malala is the youngest person to be awarded the globally prestigious annual prize. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has congratulated teenage education campaigner Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling her the “pride” of hiscountry.

“She is (the) pride of Pakistan. She has made her countrymen proud. Her achievement is unparallelled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead
from her struggle and commitment,” he said in astatement.

A number of congratulatory messages came pouring in as soon as the announcement of her win was made. The messages can beviewed here.

“The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism,” the Nobel committeesaid in a press release which canbe viewed here.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committeehas decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” the jury said. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee ThorbjornJagland, announces
that education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, Indian anti-child labour activist have been awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize 2014 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on October 10, 2014. PHOTO:
AFP Malala Yousafzai — who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 — was recognised for fighting for years for the right of girls to education, showing by example that children can contribute to improving their own situations. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances,” the committee said. “Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokespersonfor girls’ rights to education.”

It also said that the prize recognised work by Satyarthi to head various forms of protestsand demonstrations, all peaceful,focusing on the grave exploitationof children for financial gain. “Children must go to school andnot be financially exploited,” thecommittee said. “In conflict-ridden areas inparticular, the violation of children
leads to the continuation of  violence from generation to
generation.”

She is the second Pakistani tobecome a Nobel laureate after Abdus Salam who also shared the prize in 1979 with US nominee Steven Weinberg for physics. On July 12, 2013, Malala gave a powerful speech at the UN which
can be viewed here .

There was no clear frontrunner ahead of Friday’s Nobel PeacePrize announcement, with a
Russian opposition newspaper, Tunisia’s democratic leadership, Pakistan schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai and Pope Francis among a record number of candidates.

As in previous years, the chairman
of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
Thorbjoern Jagland, will reveal the
laureate’s name at 0900 GMT at the
Nobel Institute in Oslo. The Nobel committee considered a record 278 candidates, but only those made public by their sponsors have been named.

The Nobel committee’s deliberations continued almost until the last minute and a decision wasn’t reached until last week, public broadcaster NRK reported.

The broadcaster, which sometimes
but not always has been able to
predict the winner, wrote on its
website that Tunisia’s powerful
UGTT workers union and President
Moncef Marzouki were among this
year’s favourites.

“Union can beat out Malala
tomorrow,” it wrote on its website.
The UGTT was nominated for its
role in Tunisia’s democratic
transition, brokering political
negotiations that resulted in a post-
revolution constitution being
signed.

Marzouki, a secular ally of the
moderate party Ennahda, was
chosen as president in Tunisia’s
first election since dictator Zine El
Abidine was toppled in 2011.

Pundits have also suggested that
individuals or groups from the
Russian opposition could be a
popular choice for the Nobel
Committee.

“Russia’s policy in Ukraine,
annexing Crimea and questioning
borders, but also the way the
Kremlin treats dissenters cannot be
ignored by the Nobel committee,”
said Antoine Jacob, author of a
history of the Nobel prizes.

For the Nobel committee president
Thorbjoern Jagland, “sanctioning
Moscow would… be a way to prove
that he acts independently, since
(Jagland) is (also) the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe,
which counts Russia as a member,”
Jacob told AFP.

Co-founded by Mikhail Gorbachev
in 1993 with part of his peace prize
money, the pro-democracy Moscow
newspaper Novaya Gazeta has
been tipped as a possible laureate.
It is one of the few independent
media outlets left in Russia and has
seen several of its journalists
murdered, including Anna
Politkovskaya who exposed huge
human rights abuses in Chechnya.
Pope Francis has become a
bookmakers’ favourite for speaking
out on poverty.

“Today everything comes under the
laws of competition and the
survival of the fittest, where the
powerful feed upon the powerless,”
the first Latin American pope
argued in an exhortation last year.
Experts have cited Edward
Snowden, the former intelligence
analyst who revealed the extent of
US global eavesdropping, as an
outside candidate.

However, most experts say he
would be a controversial choice for
the 878,000-euro ($1.11-million)
award. Pakistani girls’ education
campaigner Malala Yousafzai, a
favourite last year, is once again
being mentioned by observers
although many say her young age
makes her a somewhat less likely
choice for the committee.

It could also increase the terror
threat against the 17-year-old, who
pushed Nigerian president
Goodluck Jonathan to meet with
the parents of hundreds of girls
who were kidnapped by the
Islamist group Boko Haram.

Kristian Berg Harpviken, director
of the Peace Research Institute Oslo
(PRIO), a leading peace prize
analyst and one of the few to
publish a shortlist, put the peace
group Japanese People Who
Conserve Article 9 — which wants
to maintain the Asian country’s
anti-war constitution — in first
place.

“We may have come to think of
wars between states as virtually
extinct after the end of the Cold
War, but events in Ukraine and
simmering tensions in East Asia
remind us they may reappear,” he
wrote.

Among the other main contenders
was favourites were Congolese
doctor Denis Mukwege, also tipped
last year, who has treated female
victims of sexual violence for the
last 25 years, and the human rights
activist Ales Bialiatski from
Belarus, who was released from
prison by the Russian-backed
dictatorship in June.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/773258/malala-yousafzai-shares-nobel-peace-prize-with-indian-activist/

Wild Life smuglling from Pashtun belt of Pakhtunkhwa , Baluchistan , and FANA causing 50 % reduction in Wild Life .

LAHORE : Disturbing findings:
Illicit wildlife trade jeopardising biodiversity The report stressed the importance of adopting environmentally friendly
solutions to counter rising threats
to nature.  Worldwide Fund for
Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) director-general Hammad Naqi Khan said on Tuesday that illegal wildlife trade had been negatively impacting Pakistan by compromising the country’s
biodiversity.

He was speaking to journalists at
an event held to release the
foundation’s 2014 Living Planet
report. Khan expressed concern
over the increasing smuggling of
black scorpions, freshwater turtles
and pangolins.

He said rising deforestation constituted anothervthreat. Khan said the fund was striving to overcome these challenges. He said it wasvcommitted to supporting
sustainable development in Pakistan.

Khan said risingdeforestation had endangered species like the common leopard by comprising their habitats.

He said Pakistan’s carbon footprint had been consistently getting larger.
Khan said a World Bank report on
air pollution had ranked urban air
pollution in Pakistan as severe.

He said this had negatively impacted
public health, quality of life, the
environment and the economy in
Pakistan.

The report stressed the importance
of adopting environmentally-
friendly solutions to counter rising
threats to nature.

According to the report, it was imperative to adopt these measures urgently as an alarming decline had been witnessed in wildlife populations.

The population of fish, reptiles,
birds, mammals and amphibians
had declined by 52 per cent over
the 40 year period surveyed in the
report.

The decline in biodiversity
witnessed in the Asia-Pacific region
was second over the period only to
Latin America.

The report highlighted the
consistent increase in the ecological
footprint. The footprint is a
measure of humanities’ demands
on nature.

According to the report, a marked rise was witnessed in Pakistan’s footprint due to population growth, growing per capita consumption and declining biodiversity.

It particularly mentioned climate change, fishing, hunting, habitat loss and degradation as the greatest
challenges to.

Published in The Express Tribune,
October 1 st , 2014.

Source : http://tribune.com.pk/story/769475/disturbing-findings-illicit-wildlife-trade-jeopardising-biodiversity/

Temporary Half Baked Measures and Gimick Hallmark of FATA secretariate.

PESHAWAR : ‘Books on wheels’:
Mobile bookshop set to roll into Khyber Agency A bus will travel across the region from Monday and hold book fairs at universities. The much-awaited ‘Books on Wheels’ project will be launched in Khyber Agency on Monday, said National Book Foundation (NBF) director in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P)
Murad Ali Mohmand.

The project is a joint venture of the
NBF, Cabinet Division and FATA
Secretariat. It was conceived in
July to promote reading habits
among students in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The progress of mobile bookshops
in Islamabad and other cities
motivated NBF to plan a similar
initiative in K-P and the tribal
region.

Under the initiative, a bus will
travel across the region as a mobile
book library and hold book fairs at
colleges and universities. According
to the press statement issued by
the NBF, the FATA Secretariat has
provided a heavy vehicle to the
NBF to operate the mobile book
shop.

“On Monday, ‘Books on Wheels’
will visit Government Girls Degree
College in Jamrud,” said Mohmand.
Jamrud’s assistant political agent
(APA) has been invited to inaugurate the project, he added.

According to the regional director,
over a thousand books on a variety
of subjects will be displayed in the
mobile book library. “The mobile
bookshop is an attempt to provide
books at subsidised rates to the
citizens of Pakistan,” Mohmand
said. “The education sector has
been badly affected by militancy
and the mobile book library is an
attempt to raise the standards of
literacy in the region.”

The mobile book library will also
visit Jamrud Degree College for
Boys and subsequently proceed to
Bara, Bajaur and Mohmand
agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune,
October 10 th, 2014.

Source : http://tribune.com.pk/story/773004/books-on-wheels-mobile-bookshop-set-to-roll-into-khyber-agency/

PTI Government Fails to Stop Wildlife Smuggling.


K-P fails to take steps to
control illegal trade

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) wildlifedepartment has failed to take
steps to control the illegal trade
of birds and other animals across
the province.
Leopard geckos, black scorpions,
turtles, tuatara and myna birds are
just a few of the animals that are
being poached from K-P, they are
then being traded illegally not only
in the province but throughout the
country and some are even being
smuggled out of it.
Like in all other provinces, the
black scorpion and the gecko have
been pushed to extinction by the
greed of poachers but it is the
province’s birds that are suffering
the most at their hands.
The trade is at its peak but arrests
and other measures by wildlife
officials is limited to vendors who
sells myna, parrots and other
colourful birds without obtaining
licences to do so. “We are poor
people and this is the only way we
can make a living,” justified
Bahadur Khan, who was arrested
by wildlife officials for hunting
down dozens of Myna birds.
Sardar Muhammad Khan, who also
illegally hunts and trades valuable
birds, told The Express Tribune that
almost every bird they catch has a
market. The hunting of such birds
is banned by the K-P government
but due to inaction and lack of
deterrents, the hunting continues,
from Chitral to Peshawar.
Choos Kata is one of the rare birds
being hunted in Chitral’s Shali and
Ayoun areas and can fetch
between Rs40,000 and Rs50,000.
The terinaak, is sold for Rs10,000,
while the Choora goes for up to
Rs20,000. However, the most
expensive of them all is the Bari
Surkh, with a single one being sold
for between Rs5 million and Rs6
million. The Bari Surkh is usually
smuggled to Arab countries as few
local buyers can afford it.
However, catching these birds is
not easy, especially as they become
increasingly rare. “We begin the
hunting season at the start of
October and it goes till the end of
December but we are only able to
hunt down 50 to 55 birds,” said a
poacher. “Some of these birds die
while they are being transported in
sacks to other cities so that’s even
fewer birds that we are able to
sell.”
Not all animals are exported
though. The sekar and the
peregrine falcon are being
smuggled into the province from
all over the world, despite their
trade being banned in the entire
country, according to divisional
forest officer Niaz Muhammad.
While proper data on wildlife is
lacking, Muhammad claimed that
there are 455 different species of
birds in the province, out of which
around a dozen are considered
rare.

Published in The Express Tribune,
October 10 th, 2014.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/773013/k-p-fails-to-take-steps-to-control-illegal-trade/