The oddest character at the time of shifting the loneliest elephant in the world at the Islamabad Zoo was Malik Amin Aslam, the advisor to the PM on Climate Change. He became an advisor in August 2018 when PTI came to power; he never visited the Islamabad Zoo or bothered to do anything for the animals at this Zoo or any other zoo in the country. He along with the Climate Change Ministry vehemently opposed all the petitions filed in the Islamabad High Court criticizing the condition of animals at the Islamabad Zoo and demanding re-location of Kavaan to an elephant sanctuary. Kavaan was simply lucky that the High Court Chief Justice took interest in his plight and ordered his repatriation to the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary.
If one had relied simply on the statements of the Advisor Amin Aslam and the slogan-mongering Senator Faisal Javed, one could start to believe that Prime Minister Imran Khan had fulfilled yet another promise and a revolution in the lives of animals and the wildlife in general in the country was taking place. The reality is far bitter. The fact is that there has been no change. One person who has made the whole Islamabad Zoo into an ego issue is the daughter of former Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, Ms Naheed Durrani who is currently the secretary of the Climate Change Ministry. She constantly opposed Kavaan’s repatriation in the court and behind the scenes and now opposing the re-location of the two unfortunate bears lodged at the Islamabad Zoo.
The Court in its June 2020 had ordered the closure of the Islamabad Zoo and transferring all the animals at the Zoo to their respective sanctuaries in the country. The irony is that there are hardly any sanctuaries worth mentioning in Pakistan; there is one private sanctuary for bears in Balkassar next to the Motorway but it refused to accept the two bears at the Zoo for unknown reasons. On July 18, the Court asked the Wildlife Board to file a weekly report with the registrar of the court about the re-location of the animals from the Zoo; it was not done. In the hearing on August 27, the Court noted the continued pain and suffering of the two bears at the Zoo. Surprisingly, as if the Government could do only one thing at a time failed to deal with the bears and they continued to linger on in the Zoo. The Court on September 28 noted that there is no appropriate sanctuary for relocating the two bears and the Punjab Government is unwilling to accept their responsibility; the Court accordingly reiterated that the unimaginable pain and suffering of the bears be ended at the earliest. The Court was informed on October 22 that export permits in respect of the bears have been issued; it appeared then that things were starting to move. Kavaan finally left Pakistan end of November but the bears continued to remain stuck. The Court in its hearing on Nov 27 again asked for a report regarding relocation of the two bears. But as luck would have it, the Government of Pakistan revoked the export permit for the bears and made a U-turn by claiming that they need not be exported and could be kept at the Ayub Park in Rawalpindi.
We all know that this is how things move in our Republic. This is however a novel experience for the European NGO working for animal welfare Four Paws and its team currently in Pakistan. It has already spent millions of rupees on Kavaan’s repatriation and is spending money even now to follow-up on the two bears at the Zoo. It moved a few wolves to Ayub Park at its own expense. What came as a surprise was the request by Ayub Park to prepare cages and proper facilities for the wolves at Four Paws’ cost. It is nothing short of shocking that we cannot even provide for a few wolves on our own. Now the Government is refusing to move the bears to Jordan on the plea that they can be moved to the same Park. Does it have the facilities or is Four Paws expected to pay for those too?
This is not all. How many of the Climate Change Ministry officials and the team of ministers and advisors visited the bears at the Zoo during the past six months? If anything happens to these bears either at the Islamabad Zoo or at the Ayub Park, all these officials will be nowhere to be seen just like when nobody was willing to take the responsibility at the time of death of the two lions while being moved to Lahore. They had died of smoke inhalation as fire was lit in their cages to force them to move out. Videos of officials burning the fire were available but no one was willing to identify these officials. The Government instead of taking a decision took a hilarious decision by withdrawing all the advisors and the ministers of the Climate Change Ministry from the Wildlife Board to prevent them from being blamed for the death of the lions.
It is a tragic situation not just for the welfare of animals in Pakistan. It is sad because it shows the travesty of the concerned officials in dealing with the issue of animal rights in the country and also appreciating the thrust of the Islamabad High Court judgment which had placed repeated emphasis on the rights of animals and asking the authorities to avoid placing animals behind bars and instead moving them to wildlife sanctuaries. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. We have known about ours for some time and we are experiencing it yet once again on a daily basis when it comes to the two bears at the Islamabad Zoo.
The Last Stop 