Deep in Pakistan’s southern desert, young locals use social media to save endangered gazelle

A Chinkara herd plays at a private farm in the gateway town of Thar Desert in Umerkot district of Sindh province on January 16, 2021 (AN photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)
Short Url
Updated 23 January 2021
Follow

Deep in Pakistan’s southern desert, young locals use social media to save endangered gazelle

  • The Chinkara is listed in the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s ‘Red List’ of threatened species
  • Viral posts from the wildlife youth forums pressurize authorities to take action against poachers

UMERKOT: Below the still surface of Pakistan’s remote Thar desert in southern Sindh – a barren landscape that often feels lost to history – an expanding social media presence engined by groups of 20-somethings is abuzz to save an endangered gazelle.

The result of a gradual rise in the numbers of internet users in one of the country’s most outlying districts has seen the spearheading of a number of social and environmental causes online, from demands for an engineering university to wildlife conservation.

The Chinkara, or Indian gazelle, native only to India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, is listed in the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) ‘Red List’ of threatened species, with an estimated 60 percent of the global Chinkara population in Thar. It is among the fastest land animals native to South Asia at speeds of 60km an hour-- but has not been fast enough to outrun poachers in the past. 




A captive Chinkara at a private farm in the gateway town of Thar Desert in Umerkot district of Sindh province on January 16, 2021 (AN photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)

Now, rural Sindh’s internet conservationists are taking the illegal hunters to task.

“In the last few years there has been a decrease in Chinkara-related wildlife crimes in the Thar Desert which has become possible only after the public’s sensitized social media reporting,” Mir Aijaz Ali Talpur, a senior official with the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD), told Arab News.

Though Pakistan is estimated to have added 11 million users to its digital pool in 2020, unequal access to the internet between rural and urban areas remains. According to The Inclusive Internet Index 2020, Pakistan fell into the last quartile of countries, ranking 76th out of 100 countries globally and 24th out of 26 Asian countries.  

And yet, in the case of the Chinkara in Thar, an almost 75 percent decrease in poaching was witnessed between 2019 and 2020. The only thing that changed, was diligent social media reporting by dozens of devoted conservationists.

According to the IUCN, no current estimate of the Chinkara population in Pakistan is available, but indiscriminate hunting has badly affected gazelle numbers in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Habitat loss through overgrazing, conversion to agriculture and industrial development is also a factor in population decline.

The ‘Karoonjhar Sujaag Forum Nangarkar’ – a Tharparkar district-based forum run by people who live in the area, focuses on the conservation of wildlife and the reporting of wildlife crimes in Thar Desert.

“Year 2020 was a successful year as cases were registered for all (poaching) incidents in Tharparkar district-- which social media volunteers had first raised the alarm for,” Zulfiqar Khoso, 25, a spokesperson of the Karoonjhar Sujaag Forum Nangarkar, told Arab News.

Some of Khoso’s posts regarding Chinkara killings have over 200 shares on Facebook. He said an incident in December last year had gone viral on the internet when his forum’s members flagged the killing of a pregnant Chiknara in the Nagarparkar area. A social media uproar ensued, a lower court took suo-moto notice of the case and hearings began. 

Thar’s conservation forums upload photographs or videos of the hunts with their posts, and say the visuals are at the heart of making their content go viral.




A group of social media activists pose at the Umerkot Fort monument in Sindh’s Thar Desert on January 16, 2021. (AN photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)

“Evidence has the potential to make content viral inside and outside the Thar Desert. Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter are majorly popular for platforms like us and individuals to raise our voices,” Khoso said.

“Proofs are also forwarded to formal media persons so that events can be raised from multiple platforms. Once the related content goes viral and becomes the talk of the town, then authorities come under pressure and take action-- which they are otherwise reluctant to do,” Khoso added.

Only four Chinkara poaching cases were reported in 2020, a stark decline from 17 in 2019. 




A group of social media activists pose with their mobile phones at the Umerkot Fort monument in Sindh’s Thar Desert on January 16, 2021. (AN photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)

Tharparkar district-based Munwar Sagar credits the decrease in poaching cases to social media. Sagar runs a Facebook page called Thar Pachar, which has over 13,000 likes on the social networking site.

“Two to three years ago, there was hardly any action against wildlife related crimes, but due to social media hue and cry, authorities are forced to take action,” Sagar, a lawyer by profession, told Arab News on Saturday.

Another online forum, the ‘Thar Wankari, Jhangli Jeewat Bachao Forum,’ is also campaigning to conserve the area's wildlife.  

“During the current season, there was an incident of Chinkara poaching in Umerkot district. Following an online outcry, authorities not only recovered the wild animals but also released them in their habitat,” Ameer Hasan Nohri, an engineering student and a member of the forum, told Arab News.

Bharumal Amrani, a Mithi-based environmentalist, said it was probable that numbers of actual poaching cases were much higher than reported cases, and added that the only time wildlife authorities in the area worked to limit Chinkara poaching, was when hunting groups arrived from the Middle East to hunt Houbara bustards in the winter, when the birds migrated in the thousands from Central Asia to Pakistan.

The rest of the year, the preservation of Thar desert’s Chinkara gazelles seems to lie in the hands of the deep south’s passionate social media conservationists.


Pakistan’s defense minister reports ‘death threat’ to British police, received during subway ride

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan’s defense minister reports ‘death threat’ to British police, received during subway ride

  • Individuals who heckled Khawaja Asif recorded a video, warning he could be stabbed with a knife
  • Pakistani ministers have also complained of harassment by Imran Khan’s followers in the past

ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has lodged a report with the British police over the alleged death threat and abuses hurled at him during a train ride in London, the Pakistan High Commission in the United Kingdom said on Thursday.
A viral video surfaced on social media a day earlier, showing an unidentified man hurling abuses at the Pakistani minister in the native Punjabi language, saying, “Take him away before someone stabs him with a knife.”
While Asif chose to ignore the incident and got off the next stop, he visited the Pakistan High Commission on Thursday to formally report the “death threat” to the UK police and demanding an investigation.
“Khawaja Muhammad Asif lodged a report of the train incident with the local police at the Pakistan High Commission,” said a statement released by the Pakistani diplomatic facility. “He informed the police about the details of the knife threat and harassment incident on the train.”
The incident that took place on the Elizabeth Line is now being investigated by the London Transport police, it added.
“I am on a private visit to London,” Asif was quoted as saying. “I was going to Reading via the Elizabeth Line with a loved one.”
He added that a family of three to four persons “harassed and threatened to kill with a knife and used abusive language” against him while making the video.
“I do not know anyone involved in the incident,” the Pakistan High Commission quoted him as saying. “London Transport Police should use CCTV footage to track down the suspects.”
Asif further said death threats and harassment were a “source of shame” for 1.7 million Pakistanis residing in the UK apart from British citizens.
This is not the first time Pakistani ministers belonging to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government, led by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party, have been heckled or harassed in the UK.
In the past, Pakistan Information Minister Ataullah Tarar and Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb have endured the same treatment allegedly by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party supporters of jailed former PM Imran Khan.
 


Seven killed in Pakistan’s northwest as militant’s car bomb explodes accidentally

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

Seven killed in Pakistan’s northwest as militant’s car bomb explodes accidentally

  • The explosion took place in Mir Ali where a militant was fitting a bomb in a car at his residence
  • Blast damaged several nearby homes and wounded 14 people, with some in critical condition

PESHAWAR: A powerful car bomb accidentally detonated at the house of a Pakistani Taliban militant in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two children and five suspected militants, police said.
The explosion took place before dawn in the city of Mir Ali in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when a man identified a local commander of the militants, Rasool Jan, was fitting a bomb in a car at his house, police official Irfan Khan said.
He said other militants from the Pakistani Taliban group quickly arrived at the scene and removed the bodies of the insurgents who died. Authorities later found the bodies of two children in the rubble of the house, which collapsed in the explosion.
The blast also badly damaged several nearby homes and wounded 14 people, including women. Some of the injured were in critical condition in a hospital, Khan said, but he did not provide details.
The Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents in the region often target security forces with assault rifles, rockets, grenades and suicide car bombings, and Khan said it appeared the car bomb was being prepared for such an attack.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are separate from the Afghan Taliban but have been emboldened by the group’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Also Thursday, security forces raided a hideout of insurgents in Harnai, a district in restive southwestern Balochistan province, triggering an intense shootout in which a soldier and three insurgents were killed. During the operation, an army major was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle, the military said in a statement.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to whom they called the “martyred soldiers” in separate statements. They said the fight against terrorism will continue until the elimination of all insurgents.
 


Pakistan, Russia call for regional collaboration on Afghanistan amid shared security concerns

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan, Russia call for regional collaboration on Afghanistan amid shared security concerns

  • The call comes as Moscow’s special representative for Afghanistan visits Pakistan for a day
  • Despite security issues, Afghanistan’s neighboring states view its stability as vital for progress

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia on Thursday called for greater collaboration among regional states to address the situation in Afghanistan, amid shared concerns over militant violence emanating from the war-torn country.
The call came during a visit by Moscow’s special representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Zamir Kabulov, who met with Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Amna Baloch, and held detailed discussions with the additional secretary, Ahmad Naseem Warraich, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.
“The two sides exchanged views on relations with Afghanistan and called for enhanced coordination among regional countries for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” the foreign office said. “The two sides agreed to remain engaged toward this end.”
The talks come as both nations grapple with security threats linked to Afghanistan. Russia has voiced alarm over Daesh and its attacks, including a concert bombing in Moscow earlier this year that was linked to militants with ties to Afghanistan.
While the Afghan Taliban and Daesh are sworn enemies, Pakistan accuses the Afghan administration of facilitating the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a proscribed militant network blamed for cross-border attacks, an allegation Kabul denies.
Pakistan’s approach to Afghanistan has grown increasingly confrontational since last year as it pressures Kabul to rein in the TTP. By contrast, Russia announced last month it would remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, signaling a step toward normalizing ties with Afghanistan’s rulers.
Beyond security, Russia is keen to retain its influence in Central Asia and engage in Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction, particularly in energy and infrastructure projects.
Initiatives such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Afghan Railway remain key priorities for Moscow, though persistent security challenges have delayed progress.
For Pakistan also, Afghanistan is critical for regional connectivity. Islamabad has offered landlocked Central Asian nations access to its ports, aiming to facilitate trade with global markets via sea routes.
Despite security concerns shared by Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, its stability is viewed as vital to unlocking the economic potential of regional projects.
 


PM Sharif urges nation to perform rain prayers as toxic smog chokes Pakistani cities

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

PM Sharif urges nation to perform rain prayers as toxic smog chokes Pakistani cities

  • Shehbaz Sharif urges Islamic scholars to play their role in organizing ‘Istisqa’ prayers across the country
  • Toxic smog has enveloped Pakistan’s cultural capital, Lahore, and 17 other districts of Punjab province

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the nation to perform prayers for rainfall, calling on Islamic scholars to take the lead in organizing “Istisqa” prayers, his office announced on Thursday, as worsening air quality continues to endanger the health of millions.
The Istisqa prayer is a special Islamic ritual performed to seek rain, primarily during times of drought or severe water shortages. It symbolizes the community’s humility, repentance and reliance on divine mercy for sustenance.
Toxic smog has enveloped Pakistan’s cultural capital, Lahore, and 17 other districts in Punjab since last month. Health officials report that more than 40,000 people have sought treatment for respiratory illnesses, prompting Punjab authorities to close schools until November 17 to safeguard children’s health.
“PM Sharif appeals to the nation to offer Istisqa prayers for rain,” his office announced in a statement. “Scholars should especially play their role in organizing Istisqa prayers.”
The prime minister noted the rainfall would improve the environment apart from aiding in getting rid of diseases.
“Istisqa prayers should be organized in all mosques under the auspices of the federal government and the provinces,” he was quoted as saying. “In the current situation, there is a dire need for rain.”
A day earlier, Pakistan’s Meteorological Department forecast light rains from Nov. 14-16 in most districts of the country’s populous Punjab province.
The UN children’s agency has warned that the health of 11 million children in Punjab is in danger due to air pollution.
South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan, gets shrouded in intense pollution every winter as cold air traps emissions, dust, and smoke from farm fires.
Pollution could cut more than five years from people’s life expectancy in the region, according to a University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute study last year.
 


Pakistan signs four-year pact with Global Green Growth Initiative to boost climate resilience

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan signs four-year pact with Global Green Growth Initiative to boost climate resilience

  • The agreement will help Pakistan’s transition to a green economy, address water scarcity and deforestation
  • Pakistan has ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, with its cities engulfed in smog

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has signed a four-year country program framework agreement with an international green economy organization to advance its sustainable development goals by enhancing climate resilience through green growth initiatives, according to an official statement released on Thursday.
The agreement was signed by Pakistan’s Climate Change Ministry Secretary, Aisha Humera Moriani, and the Global Green Growth Initiative’s (GGGI) Deputy Director-General, Helena McLeod, during a formal ceremony at the United Nations-led Global Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Pakistan ranks as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In 2022, catastrophic floods claimed over 1,700 lives, affected more than 33 million people, and caused economic losses exceeding $30 billion.
While international donors pledged over $9 billion last January to help Pakistan recover from the devastating floods, officials report that little of the pledged amount has been disbursed so far.
“The Ministry of Climate Change & Environmental Coordination and GGGI has signed a four-year Country Programme Framework agreement to advance Pakistan’s sustainable development goals through targeted climate action and green growth interventions,” said the official statement.
On the occasion, McLeod said her organization aimed to facilitate Pakistan’s transition to a green economy through collaboration with national stakeholders to address water scarcity, deforestation and energy challenges “compounded by climate change effects.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Coordinator on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam thanked the GGGI for engaging with Pakistan to “mobilize green finance, support climate action frameworks and promote investment” to achieve climate resilience.
Pakistan also regularly faces other climate change-induced effects such as droughts, cyclones, torrential rainstorms and heatwaves.
Currently, record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in the eastern city of Lahore and other cities in the populous Punjab province, which has been enveloped in thick, toxic smog since last month.
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket Lahore and its surroundings each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
The city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month, as has New Delhi.