Court tells Chitral officials: Arrest the poachers or face action

Via Dawn 

The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday warned the Chitral district administration and wildlife department of strict action in case of their failure to arrest poachers of a markhor inside the Chitral Goal National Park by April 10, observing it was the last chance for them to comply.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser took exception to the non-arrest of poachers observing that if officials of wildlife were scared because of the influence of the poachers, they should request the court for in-camera hearing.

The bench fixed the next hearing for April 10, directing the officials of district administration and wildlife department to trace poachers by then to avoid action.

It directed the chief conservator of wildlife (CCW), the deputy commissioner and the district police officer to discharge duty diligently as the court would not be lenient towards them if they failed in the task.

On Feb 27, the chief justice had taken a suo moto notice of the killing of a markhor after the media reported it.

On previous hearing, the court had issued notices to the DC, DPO and CCW and directed them to take action against the culprits.

According to media reports the poachers had killed the markhor inside the park, loaded it in a pickup truck and escaped at night on Feb 17.

The markhor is stated to be valuing Rs9.5 million. It reported that one of the guards on duty managed to recover the head of the killed markhor from poachers, who threatened him with dire consequences.

The guard had said they had covered their faces and were speaking Urdu.

An FIR was also registered against unidentified poachers but so far, no one could be arrested.

Additional advocate general Obaid Razak and the CCW informed the bench on Tuesday that poachers were riding a pickup van with registration number plate of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The chief justice asked the CCW how poachers had entered the park and how they left the place.

The official said the guards on duty had played their role and had recovered the head, which was the most precious part of the body and was considered a trophy by hunters.

He added that it was a night occurrence and by the time, guards informed police and other officials that poachers had escaped from the scene.

The official said there were only 400 wildlife protection officers in the province and there were only six guards for the said park spread over 50 square kilometres.

The chief justice observed that he couldn’t believe that the wildlife officials were unaware of the identity of poachers. He added that if CCW was scared of them, he should tell the court confidentially about them and the court would lay hand on them.