Over 70 falcons seized by authorities die trapped in net of Pakistan’s legal system

Photo shows one of 75 falcons seized from alleged smugglers at the Customs Preventive Service Club and Sports Complex in Karachi on Feb. 28, 2020. (AN photo)
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Updated 11 March 2022
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Over 70 falcons seized by authorities die trapped in net of Pakistan’s legal system

  • Pakistan Customs seized 75 falcons and a houbara bustard worth $1 million in October 2020
  • A majority of the birds died as lengthy trials in multiple courts continue to determine their fate

KARACHI: In October 2020, customs officials in Pakistan told local media they had seized 75 falcons and a houbara bustard from alleged smugglers during two separate raids in Karachi, putting the value of the birds in excess of $1 million.
Sixteen months later, 71 of the 76 birds are dead after a saga of lengthy trials in multiple courts, legal and inter-departmental wrangling over the fate of the birds, and an inability by officials to provide them with a suitable habitat since confiscation.
On Oct. 21, 2020, five days after the birds were seized by Pakistan Customs, a customs court dismissed the argument that the case involved smuggling, saying the birds had not been seized at an entry or exit point of the country. However, the court acknowledged that the episode was a violation of a provincial wildlife law passed in 2020, and ruled that the birds would remain in the custody of Pakistan Customs. The case was subsequently referred to a trial court, which was ordered by the Sindh High Court on March 11, 2021.




A falcon is seen in a cubicle at the Customs Preventive Service Club and Sports Complex in Karachi on Feb. 28, 2022. (AN photo)

Javed Mehar, a conservator at the Sindh Wildlife Department, told Arab News the department submitted a document to the trial court, calling for a “summary trial” under relevant laws to ensure the birds could be immediately released.
“In case of delay, there are greater chances of (their) mortality,” the document, seen by Arab News, said.
During the course of the trial court hearings, the owners of the birds produced licenses issued by the chairman of the Wildlife Management Board. The court accepted the claim of legal ownership and ruled in the owners’ favor on May 31, a decision that was appealed by both the wildlife and customs departments. Therefore, despite the favorable ruling, the birds were not released.
Aslam Gabol, who owned 55 of the 76 birds, said his family had been “legally” trading in birds for decades.
“Both the customs and trial courts handed down judgments in our favor because we presented every fact, that we are openly trading these birds under the government’s license and it’s completely legal,” Gabol told Arab News. “We hadn’t kept the birds at any hidden location and we have never kept our business hidden as we have got proper license each year … and have maintained its record.”
Gabol said his family usually purchased the birds from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, as well as from Afghanistan, and sold them to clients abroad, mostly in the Middle East.
A second owner, Basheer Buledi, said his family had been in the trade since 1972.
“We are trading the falcons as per law and had kept them at the same address as mentioned on the permit,” Buledi told Arab News. “Had this been an illegal business or if we were doing it secretly, I would have not kept the birds at my home.”
Buledi said the decision of the courts was “testimony of the fact that we had done nothing illegal.”
He asked: “How can it be a case of smuggling when the birds were not seized at any air or sea port or Sindh’s border with another province?”
However, Mehar quoted a directive from the Forests and Wildlife Department under which all new licenses were banned and old ones terminated on Feb. 11, 2019. That directive was appealed and rejected by the Sindh High Court and thus, Mehar argued, there was no law under which the owners of the birds could be in possession of their licenses.
Mehar also said the Wildlife Management Board had been defunct since 1996 and had not been allowed to issue permits since. There was also no provision to allow for hunting or possession licenses under the new wildlife law of 2020, he said.
Sardar Muhammad Usman Almani, chairman of the Sindh Wildlife Management Board and its chief game warden, said while he had issued private game and mini-zoo licenses under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1972, he did not “recall” signing any possession licenses after assuming office in May 2019.
When he was shown a copy of the licenses submitted by the owners of the birds in court, Almani said he would check his records but did not return with an answer.
Eight months after the ruling in favor of the birds’ owners, the High Court is yet to hear the appeal filed by the customs and wildlife departments.
But even as the trial dragged on, customs and wildlife officials, as well as the Pakistan Falconry Association, said they had made a last-ditch effort to save the birds by having them moved to the colder northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. Their attempts, however, proved futile as the court did not grant permission.
In March last year, Kamran Khan Yousafzai, who heads the PFA and the Raptor Center for Rehabilitation and Conservation, wrote to the Pakistan Ministry of Climate Change that the birds needed to be moved to Gilgit-Baltistan because their survival was difficult in Karachi.
“Weather is becoming hot and temperature is rising in Karachi, and falcons are facing extreme dehydration,” Yousufzai wrote in his letter. “It is becoming impossible to maintain the health of falcons in high temperatures. Delayed release process of falcons is causing increased threat to their survival.
“The falcons cannot survive in temperatures exceeding 34 C,” Yousafzai told Arab News, adding that the ministry also agreed to the proposal to shift the birds.
“However, the court did not allow customs or the ministry to move the birds to Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said, and so the birds remained in Karachi, where they died one by one.
Legal experts say reform is needed to ensure the situation is not repeated.
Salahuddin Ahmed, a legal expert and president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, said he believed Pakistani laws regarding the storage of case property — in this case the confiscated birds — needed to be updated.
“Keeping animals for so long is pointless,” he said. “Forget animals, I frequently see cars rusting away during legal trials just because they are case property.”
Iftikhar Khan, the customs intelligence officer who seized the birds, said the lengthy court proceedings had not only led to the death of the falcons but would now discourage officers from pursuing smugglers in the future.
“Hundreds of falcons are traded on the Pakistani black market,” he said, “but who will conduct a raid now? Any raid against such smugglers will result in the murder of birds. That is the lesson we learn from this story.”

 


‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk

Updated 4 sec ago
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‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk

  • Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting ‘Elon Musk has got to go’ and ‘No kings on Presidents Day!’
  • One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, ‘Deport Musk Dethrone Trump’

BOSTON: Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures to demonstrate Monday at rallies corresponding with the Presidents Day holiday.
Dubbed “No Kings on Presidents Day” by the 50501 Movement, the latest protests came less than two weeks after a similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both protests denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, an outside-government organization designed to slash federal spending.
Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and “No kings on Presidents Day!” The temperature was below freezing with wind chills in the teens.
Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing from the 1700s, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”
“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”
Organizers of Monday’s protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”
Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.
The rallies followed a series of Trump executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.


What do people want from a leader in a rapidly changing world?

Updated 8 min 37 sec ago
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What do people want from a leader in a rapidly changing world?

  • Gallup poll spanning 52 countries reveals “hope” as the top need from leaders, followed closely by “trust”
  • In low-income countries, hope becomes crucial for reducing suffering and giving people a sense of a better future

LONDON: What are leaders for? It sounds like an obvious question, with equally obvious answers.

But a new survey, conducted across 52 countries and territories and accounting for 76 percent of the world’s adult population, has refined those answers down to just four words: hope, trust, compassion and stability.

And of these “four needs of followers,” one emerges head and shoulders above the rest – hope, followed closely by trust.

These were the headline findings of an international survey released by international polling company Gallup at last week’s three-day World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The summit, which has been held annually in the city since 2013, brings together heads of government, officials and thought leaders “to address universal challenges and set the agenda for next-generation governments.”

Topics tackled at this year’s summit included the impact of artificial intelligence and how governments can maintain the trust of their citizens in the face of the maelstrom of misinformation and conspiracy theorizing generated in this digital age.

The World Governments Summit in Dubai, which has been held annually since 2013, brings together heads of government, officials and thought leaders “to address universal challenges and set the agenda for next-generation governments.” (AFP)

And trust and hope, the survey found, are what people want most from their leaders, whether in government or at the head of the companies for which they work.

“Today’s leaders face profound and complex challenges, such as climate change, conflict and artificial intelligence, and must make decisions that affect the lives of their followers,” said Jon Clifton, Gallup’s CEO, who spoke at the launch of the report at the summit on Feb. 11.

“In this changing world, it is crucial for leaders to understand the reasons people follow them.”

To better understand how people around the world perceive leaders and their impact, Gallup first asked participants to name a leader who has had the most positive influence on their daily lives. They then asked them to list three words describing what that leader contributes to their lives.

The survey found that “hope is the primary need of followers around the world” — a finding that would have come as no surprise to the 19th-century French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who defined a leader as “a dealer in hope.”

When asked to list three words that best describe what leaders contribute to their lives, 56 percent said “Hope,” followed by 33 percent who named “Trust.”

It is, said Clifton, essential for leaders to recognize that “hope is a powerful motivator. It stands out as the dominant need across followers, with 56 percent of all attributes tied to positive leaders grouping into this theme — particularly the attributes of inspiration, vision and personal integrity.

The Gallup survey found that “hope is the primary need of followers around the world.” (Getty Images)

“Hope gives followers something better to look forward to, enabling them to navigate challenges and work toward a brighter future. Without hope, people can disengage, lose confidence and become less resilient.”

The survey found that hope is the primary need across all 52 countries surveyed, ranging from just over four in 10 people in Bulgaria, Jordan and Lebanon to at least two in three in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Egypt.

In fact, hope as a need fulfilled by leaders was above the global average of 56 percent in Egypt (72 percent), Saudi Arabia (66 percent), the UAE (64 percent). By contrast, hope was found most wanting in Palestine (49 percent), Jordan (44 percent) and Lebanon (41 percent).

And the survey makes clear that, while government leaders obviously play a significant role in the lives of their citizens, other types of leaders understandably have a more direct, day-to-day impact on people’s lives and happiness.

Overall, asked what leader had the most positive influence on their lives, an overwhelming and perhaps unsurprising majority of those surveyed (57 percent) named a family leader.

Next, with 11 percent, came work managers, followed by political and religious leaders, both named by 7 percent of respondents.

Celebrities, the survey reveals, are rarely considered to exert the most positive influence in people’s daily lives — just 2 percent of adults name a celebrity.

Which type of leader has the most positive influence varies enormously from country to country – for example, workplace leadership is important to 70 percent of people in China and 52 percent in the UAE, while political leadership is cited by 38 percent in Tanzania (the highest rating), 33 percent in Israel and 22 percent in Turkiye.

While Gallup’s research into followers’ needs offers valuable insight, the answer to what makes a good leader lies in a holistic understanding of themselves, their role, and the needs of their followers. Without first understanding what followers expect and need, a leader’s ability to lead successfully is in question.

“Great leadership is defined not by authority alone, but by how much the people who follow leaders trust and support them,” said Gallup’s Jon Clifton.

“The best leaders — of countries, organizations or other groups — keep their followers in mind when making decisions, because without them, even the most capable leader lacks true influence.”

IN NUMBERS

  • 60% of survey respondents say they look for hope in political leaders.
  • 54% look for it in family members.
  • 59% in religious leaders.
  • 59% in managers.

The survey also found a direct connection between wellbeing and life satisfaction and the extent to which the basic expectations of leadership — hope, trust, compassion and stability — are met.

Gallup measures life satisfaction by asking respondents to imagine a ladder with ten rungs, with the lowest rung representing the worst possible life and the highest the best.

Those who rated their current life a “7” or higher and their anticipated life in five years an “8” or higher are categorized as thriving. Those on “4” or lower are considered to be suffering.

By this metric the survey reveals a subtle but significant association between hope and life satisfaction. Among those who do not associate hope with the leader they mention, only 33 percent are classed as thriving and 9 percent as suffering, whereas thriving rises to 38 percent and suffering dips to 6 percent among those for whom the need for hope is met.

Although suffering is relatively rare, the survey results show it decreases as more needs are met. This is especially important in low-income countries, where higher levels of suffering make hope for a better future crucial in reducing pain.

While Gallup’s research into followers’ needs offers valuable insight, the answer to what makes a good leader lies in a holistic understanding of themselves, their role, and the needs of their followers. (Pexels)

Trust is the second most important need identified by the survey (33 percent), and this has “an additive role” when combined with hope and either stability or compassion, in which case rates of thriving increase to 43 percent and 39 percent respectively.

Followers need to trust that their leaders will keep their word and act with integrity, Gallup explains. “Trust is the foundation of human relationships,” enabling people to collaborate toward shared goals more effectively.

Gallup says its research into the needs of followers “offers a blueprint for current and future leaders.”

“As we navigate an era marked by rapid technological advancements and global interconnectedness, the ability to pivot and respond to new challenges is more important than ever,” said CEO Clifton.

“Leaders who keep the four needs of followers at the forefront when making decisions will likely be most destined to make a positive impact on the world.”

Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup. (Supplied)

Gallup highlights that leaders “must ultimately know three things to succeed” — they must understand the needs of their followers and fulfil the four needs of hope, trust, compassion and stability; they must know themselves, and lead with their strengths; and “the most successful leaders also have a deep understanding of the demands of their specific role and the expectations attached to it.”

However, Gallup leaders cannot meet their followers’ needs without first knowing themselves, Gallup highlights. Effective leaders develop their innate strengths, refining natural talents through knowledge and skill to unlock unique leadership approaches and maximize their impact.

The best leaders, the report concludes, “achieve success — despite varied roles, organizations and industries — by bringing multiple teams together and making great decisions, driving the purpose and performance of their organization.

“The more leaders can provide their followers with hope, trust, compassion and stability by leaning on their unique strengths and applying them to the specifics of their role, the more successful they will be.”

 


US wants to please Putin, says Ukraine’s Zelensky

Updated 17 February 2025
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US wants to please Putin, says Ukraine’s Zelensky

  • US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine

BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Monday that the United States was trying to “please” Moscow in talks on Ukraine and warned of Europe’s military “weakness.”
Reacting to conciliatory comments toward Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: “The US is now saying things that are very favorable to Putin... because they want to please him.”
“They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want — ‘just a ceasefire’ — is not a win,” Zelensky said, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded Saturday in Munich.
US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
US defense chief Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking the territory lost since 2014.
On the contours of any future deal, Zelensky said “we will not sign just anything in order to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory that Russia has seized, saying: “We will reclaim it all.”
As European leaders held crisis talks in Paris on the way forward, ARD broadcast the interview which Zelensky recorded during the three-day Munich Security Conference that ended on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president warned that Europe was in a weak position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella.
While “readiness has increased” in recent years, “in terms of troop strength, the number of combat troops, the fleet, the air force, the drones... I honestly think that Europe is weak today,” he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine had grown more resilient over the past three years and that “Putin wouldn’t be able to occupy us the way he wanted to.”
Even so, he warned that “there will definitely not be a Ukrainian victory without US support.”
Zelensky said he and Trump had spoken about deploying foreign troops to police a future ceasefire.
“I told him the Americans should be a part of this, because otherwise we might lose our unity,” he said.
At a meeting of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels last week, Hegseth flatly rejected the possibility of a US troop deployment to Ukraine.
When asked whether he would give up the presidency if necessary for an agreement, Zelensky said that “for peace I am prepared to do anything.”
“If tomorrow Ukraine were accepted into the EU and NATO, if Russian troops were to withdraw and we got security guarantees, I wouldn’t be needed anymore,” he said.
 

 


End of the road for Kolkata’s beloved yellow taxis

Updated 17 February 2025
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End of the road for Kolkata’s beloved yellow taxis

KOLKATA: Kolkata locals cherish their city’s past, which is why many in the one-time Indian capital are mourning a vanishing emblem of its faded grandeur: a hulking and noisy fleet of stately yellow taxis.

The snub-nosed Hindustan Ambassador, first rolling off the assembly line in the 1950s with a design that barely changed in the decades since, once ruled India’s potholed streets.

Nowadays it is rarely spotted outside Kolkata, where it serves as the backbone of the metropolitan cab fleet and a readily recognizable symbol of the eastern city’s identity.

But numbers are dwindling fast, and a court ruling means those that remain — lumbering but still sturdy — will be forced off the roads entirely in the next three years.

“I love my car like my son,” Kailash Sahani, who has sat behind the wheel of an Ambassador cab for the past four decades, told AFP.

“It’s a simple car — no electronics, no frills,” the 70-year-old added. “It’s unbelievable how much things have changed ... The end of these taxi cars also marks our end.”

Sahani is among thousands of Kolkata cabbies relinquishing their vehicles in line with tough emissions standards introduced in 2009 to ease the city’s endemic smog problem.

Only around 2,500 Ambassador taxis were still working at the start of this year, down from 7,000 a year earlier, according to Bengal Taxi Association figures.

Another 1,000 will be retired this year, and West Bengal state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty told AFP that the remainder will be gone by the end of 2027.

“The car is strong. Parts and maintenance are cheap and if it breaks down, it’s easy to find a mechanic,” said Bengal Taxi Association spokesman Sanjeeb Roy.

Their disappearance, he added, “represents all that’s wrong with India’s changing economy.” 

The Hindustan Ambassador was the cornerstone of India’s automotive industry for decades from its 1957 debut at a factory on Kolkata’s northern outskirts. Modeled on a similarly regal sedan car from Britain’s now long-defunct Morris Motors, the car was a triumphant achievement of industry in the first years of India’s history as an independent nation.


Detained Ugandan opposition veteran briefly hospitalized

Updated 17 February 2025
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Detained Ugandan opposition veteran briefly hospitalized

  • Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of President Yoweri Museveni — in power for nearly 40 years — whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections

NAIROBI: Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye was briefly hospitalized after his health deteriorated following a hunger strike but was back in prison on Monday, his lawyer said.

Besigye, 68, is a leading opponent of President Yoweri Museveni — in power for nearly 40 years — whom he has unsuccessfully challenged in four elections.

He was abducted in Kenya in November and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial that his wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, has called a “sham.”

Besigye’s lawyer Erias Lukwago said he “was brought under heavy security deployment to a private medical facility in Bugolobi (Kampala) last night and taken back to Luzira prison.”

Besigye was last seen in public on Friday during a court appearance where he appeared frail — a day after Lukwago said he was “critically ill.”

Lukwago and opposition lawmaker Francis Twijukye said they were unclear about his current situation as they have “limited access to him.”

His wife said on Sunday she was “very worried” about Besigye’s health.

On trial for “threatening national security,” Besigye went on hunger strike on Feb. 10 to protest his detention.