SC bars govt from issuing hunting permits for houbara bustards

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja issued a detailed judgment on Tuesday while hearing the houbara bustard case.

The federal government was also ordered to ensure its obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Both of the conventions are recognized by Pakistani law.

Read more: Supreme Court bans Houbara Bustard hunting, cancels licences

The SC also asked provinces to amend their wildlife laws to make them coincide with CITES and CMS. The court ordered them not to issue any permits for hunting of these species, which are either threatened with extinction or categorized as vulnerable.

On August 19, the Supreme Court had suspended the special licences granted to Arab Royals to hunt endangered Houbara Bustard in Balochistan

In that hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan had argued that Houbara Bustard was not an endangered bird. In reply, Justice Qazi Faiz Essa remarked this did not mean that the government starts issuing licences to hunt the bird.