Sher Jan P. Shohaz
On 31 March, a notification from the office of Deputy Commissioner of Kech was issued, calling for the immediate ban on public hunting of songbirds and wildlife in the district. This is indeed a complimentary move. Balochistan is raising the driest farewell to the songbirds and their wildlife since hunting them in abundance has been legalized. This has nowhere been officially incriminating in Balochistan to tag inquests against the baleful onslaught. The drought of an efficient and responsible wildlife department in the province has preached chaos and malignant climate to the wildlife, especially to the seasonal songbirds.
However, the world seems more concerned about this tearful farewell to songbirds as many countries in the Middle East have instituted alignments and developed buoyant organizations to stop the violence against songbirds. They have conducted seminars and open sessions on the importance of wildlife and the climate wildlife live in.
A Hong Kong-based organization aimed to protect birds and buntings Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBS) has declared 2018 a year to be observed as the International Yellow-breasted Bunting Awareness Year. They on their official website also published a complete story picturing the plight of songbirds.
HKBS hosted a workshop in China in November 2016 to make the safety of songbirds certain and sure. The workshop focused on the awareness regarding songbirds and the strict questions against a consequence of any action one performs against the wildlife mainly songbirds.
Further, Mr. Lam Chiu-ying who’s the honorary president of the HKBS speaks in a video posted on HKBS’s official website, “the main recommendations from the workshop were that the yellow-breasted bunting should be officially protected in all range countries.” He further announced the unnecessary and illegal hunting domestic violence of wildlife which definitely should own strict punishments in case one performs in any of the countries.
Every year in the month of March, Balochistan hosts a great number of songbirds. The number after every year reduces in abundance due to the condemnatory violence of the locals in each district.
Balochistan’s Makran has contributed the worst of its proportion against a breakneck downturn of songbirds in the province. The number of songbirds has declined in the extreme ratio since the conservative society has adopted the culture of annual hunting of songbirds which has been traditionally adopted as a pleasure of hunting.
Makran has spent the last decade deepening the roots of hunting culture in the province against songbirds since its few regions are affluent in water and seedlings.
Dasht, a tehsil of district Kech (Turbat), every year hosts a predominant family of songbirds at the time of the wheat sowing season till the harvest. The number of songbirds it hosts to date is extremely lower than it did years before. The culture of hunting in the region is extremely deep-rooted that everyone- be at a child, young or an old awaits for the season.
According to the aged-folks majority of the region, Dasht has suffered from the worst drought of songbirds last year.
“Gone were the days when the sky was dressed yellowish and trees looked like daffodils. Yesterday was more yellowish than today. People in past considered the songbirds the beauty of March here in Balochistan. We thought these birds bring us prosperity as we considered they symbolize peace. But, today’s youths find their lunch and dinner in them. They kill them. They kill the prosperity, peace, and beauty of March. This is a savage and murderous generation.” Said, Master Illyas, a retired teacher from Dasht.
Additionally, hunting birds in a region already hit by extreme drought is an absolute erase of the existence of that wildlife. Dasht is already hit by drought intensely and has become an epicenter of dry forest. If hunting for pleasure continues for the next few years, the region may witness hosting a songbird a daydream. Since due to the slow rainfall in the region, wildlife has gone through great chaos of survival.
Also, an extreme fear of decline in songbirds has emerged due to no official campaigns and organizational progress against the open violation of the wildlife in Balochistan.
Scrolling down to the new posts on Facebook, last night I came across a post where a man resting on one knee, was posing for the camera, having approximately a hundred songbirds put dead in front.
Have you ever seen a person advertising his own crime on Facebook or other social platforms? Receiving plaudits of violation against innocent birds is something that can’t stand to be approved in law.
The recent official ban on hunting from the government of Balochistan is deserving adoration. Hope this takes place in-ground, too. Also, there should be some campaign and awareness sessions on the importance of wildlife in the rural territories of the province, including instituting the Department of Wildlife in the province to put efforts in the ground.
The writer is a Turbat-based freelance columnist and studying SPE and European History at the University of Karachi (UoK). He tweets at @SheraanRind.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
Share your comments!
