ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan has directed the Sindh Wildlife Department Secretary to take effective measures for bringing back the Pakistan’s smuggled 780 turtles, which have been captured in Hong Kong.
Mushahidullah Khan, in a statement Saturday, said the value of 780 turtles in monetary terms had been estimated at around Rs 180 million.
The minister expressed his serious concern over steep rise in incidents of smuggling of endangered turtle species of Pakistan worth billions of rupees and urged the provincial wildlife departments to play their due role in containing the incidents of turtle smuggling.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan also asked the officials of wildlife department of his ministry and those of the provincial governments to earmark funds in their respective annual departmental budgets for controlling smuggling of endangered or otherwise wildlife and medicinal plant species and recovery of the smuggled Pakistani wildlife species or medicinal plants captured in any foreign country.
This would help smooth returning of the country’s smuggled wildlife species from abroad, he argued.
He also called for severe action against customs and animal quarantine departments’ officials involved in such smuggling cases and said that officials of these departments should appreciated at federal and provincial levels, who refuse to get bribery or foil smuggling of the wildlife species at any level.
Such officials should also be given appreciation certificates in recognition of their honesty, as this would motivate them to carry on their positive role, he added.
