KARACHI: A special permit was issued by the federal government to theGovernor of Tabuk, Saudi Arabian Prince Fahd bin Sultan Abdul Aziz Al Saud,to hunt the endangered houbara bustard in 2017-18, reported by a localEnglish daily.link>

Prince Fahd had hunted over 2,100 houbara bustards during his three-weeklong safari a couple of years ago.

On January 18, the Federal Minister for Climate Change SenatorMushahidullah Khan chaired the second meeting of the Houbara BustardEndowment Fund and Migratory Birds.

He said the present government was serious to protect the houbara bustardspecies in Pakistan. The creation of this fund was a proof of the solidefforts, a press release said.

The participants discussed the financial rules that were set to get theapproval from the board. However, many technical issues were pointed out inthe financial rules.

The mechanism of the distribution of funds was missing in the rules.

A resident of the colder Central Asian region, houbara bustard avoidingharsh weather conditions in its habitat migrates every year to spend itswinters in relatively warm environment in Pakistan and returns to itshabitat after the winter.

Owing to the dwindling global population of houbara bustard, it is not onlyprotected under the international conservation conventions, but its huntingis also banned under the national local wildlife protection laws, andnatives are not allowed to hunt it. But the federal government issuesspecial permits every year to the ruling elite of the Gulf States.

The special permits have been issued by the foreign ministry’s deputy chiefof protocol (P&I) Naeem Iqbal Cheema through a letter and sent to theIslamabad-based Embassy of Bahrain so that these could be dispatched to thehunters residing in the tiny Gulf Island.