QUETTA: A section of Balochistan’s population has strongly reacted to the hunting ban slapped on Arab sheikhs, particularly for the Houbara bustard. Billions of rupees of investment is at stake, PML-Q Balochistan chapter general secretary Mir Abdul Karim Nosherawani said leading a demonstration outside the Quetta press club. Arab dignitaries spend millions of rupees when they come for the hunt giving direct boost to earnings of local people of the far flung areas of the impoverished province. “It was our Arab guests who donated generously for schools and hospitals wherever they went, their direct philanthropy for the local people is unaccountable,” he said slating the federal government’s decision to ban safaris of Arab sheikhs. From 1981 till 2015 Arab dignitaries particularly Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid generously funded projects for community welfare like hospitals and schools in Kharan, Turbat, Gwadar, Pasni and Dalbandin, Nosherwani said. Projects worth over Rs200 billion are under way in different areas of Balochistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2015.
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