Crown Prince MBS among Saudi royals allowed to hunt houbara bustards in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has issued special permits to Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and two governors of the Kingdom to hunt endangered bird species houbara bustards.

The permits have been issued for the hunting season 2020-21 while certain hunting areas have been allocated in Punjab and Balochistan to the royals of the Arab country.

Besides MBS, the Pakistan government has issued permits to Prince Fahad bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Governor of Tabuk and Prince Mansour bin Mohammad S. Abdul Rehman Al-Saud, Governor of Hafr Al-Batin.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy chief of protocol (P&I) issued the permits, which have been delivered to Saudi Embassy to be sent to the hunters, Dawn News reported.

The migratory bird is not only protected under various international nature conservation agreements but its hunting is also banned under wildlife protection laws in Pakistan. Local residents are not allowed to hunt the endangered bird.

Houbara bustard, a habitant to Central Asia’s colder regions, used to migrate to southwards every year due to harsh weather condition in its region.

The issuance of the permits to hunt the endangered bird shows a shift in opinion of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who used to slammed the predecessor rulers for issuing such permits.

As per the permits, MBS has been allocated Layyah and Bhakkar districts in Punjab for hunting, Prince Fahad bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud allocated district Awaran, district Noshki, and district Chaghai (excluding Nok Kundi) in Balochistan while Prince Mansour bin Mohammad S. Abdul Rehman Al-Saud has been allocated Dera Ghazi Khan district in Punjab.