PESHAWAR – Social media users and activists condemned the killing of endangered birds by the commissioner of Peshawar division Riaz Khan Mehsud after his photo with hunted partridges went viral.
Journalist Asad Ali Toor shared the image, which depicted Mehsud, the son of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Dost Muhammad Mehsud, brandishing a shotgun in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a number of hunted birds on the bonnet of his car.
“Commissioner Peshawar, Riaz Mehsud proudly poses for a photo with poached partridges. Will PTI Govt which claims to be custodian of wildlife take action against him? Hunting of endangered species is on the rise in PTI’s Govt,” Toor wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/AsadAToor/status/1494540987875614722
The controversial picture has cooked up a storm on social media, with people demanding actions against the senior bureaucrat. However, it is unclear where the photo was taken.
It is also yet to confirm whether Commissioner Mehsud had a permit to hunt the endagered specie as the provincial government has been issuing licences in the past for specific hunting season.
The hunting season in the past started from November 17 until February 2.
These species of birds are vulnerable to climate change, habitat loss, and overhunting while The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the black partridge on its Red List of Threatened Species.
