IHC CJ adjourns hearing of rare animals case till Sept 8

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday held a hearing into the case pertaining to import of rare animals breeds.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah was hearing the case.

Counsel of the applicant Maryam Ali and a representative of the Ministry of Climate Change and others appeared before the court in Islamabad.

The court inquired from the ministry about what it had done in the case. The ministry’s representative said that a request had been submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however no response was received on it so far.

The court said as per the law you could not keep an animal in an uncalled-for pain. The representative said no citizen was allowed to import the animals on a commercial basis. Whereas, a restriction had been placed on export of local animals at citizen level, he added.

The ministry’s representative said the list which had been provided had been examined. “It has been around two years since no animal has been imported, specially after the court order,” he said.

The court directed the applicant to help the Ministry of Climate Change to rectify the list. “It is inappropriate to give unnecessary pain to animals. Allah also does not like it,” the court remarked.

The ministry’s representative said nobody whether a VIP or a common man was allowed to import falcon or Houbara bustard.

The high court directed the climate change ministry to inform the court when it received a reply from the foreign affairs ministry.

The court has adjourned the hearing into the case till September 8.

In November 2021, the IHC had banned import of rare animal breed, then on May 21, 2022, the IHC had banned export as well along import of rare animal species.

On May 23, 2022, the Foreign Office had told the IHC that it had not issued any license or permit to export rare species animals.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah, who heard the case, asked as to how the Ministry of Climate Change could issue a permit despite ban on the export of rare species animals. At this, a ministry official informed the court that it had just issued only a no-objection certificate in that regard.

The CJ observed that both the Foreign Office and the Climate Change Ministry were denying of issuance of any permits, while the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said that the FO had issued instructions to it in that regard.

He said the export of the animals was illegal. His court had already imposed ban on import and export of falcons. No permit or NOC could be issued to anyone in the future, he remarked.

The court extended its stay order against the export of rare species and adjourned the case till May 30.

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