|
Are
Chitralis really peaceful
?
-letter2
I wholeheartedly agree with the views of Mr. Ejaz Ahmed
expressed in his letter concerning migratory birds. Chitral is blessed
with unique natural beauty, rare to find anywhere else in the world- be
it the lush green plains, the snow capped peaks or the amazing river
Chitral with all its mysterious bends and turns. It is the home to the
near extinct Snow leopard and the Ibex and to add the migratory birds it
attracts during the late winter months.
What we dont realise while hunting these birds down
mercilessly is that we are also harming our ownselves. Our economy
depends on tourism, which directly depends on the birds and all the
other animals we have. How can we be proud of our natural bounties when
we are cutting down the roots from beneath. We should not take them for
granted. Time to wake up Chitral! No fun hunting this february!
Bakhtawar
Salik,
Islamabad.
03 Feb 2010
Are
Chitralis really peaceful
?
-letter
There are about a dozen Chitrali gentlemen in Islamabad,
I know, likely to leave for the valley by mid February. They had come in
December to flee the cold, but despite the fact that chilly weather is
not over they are heading back.
I asked one of them (a retired one and an active participant of human
rights activities) that why was he so eager to get back? His reply
disclosed our original nature and behavior. "Hunting season is
approaching, what would I do here wasting my time", he said angrily.
February, is the month when 'guests' in the form of migratory birds
travel through Chitral on way from warmer areas to Siberia. How
these guests are treated is known to every one . An earlier
Editorial of Chitral News says
it all.
We keep claiming to be peaceful people with a gun-free culture when it
comes to competitive human beings, but when it comes to the helpless
creatures of God in the form of innocent migratory birds, we display
totally different traits. We become the biggest enemy of the
symbol of peace -the Dove. and obsessively get after it's life.
Interestingly the authorities also help us in this
callous practice and issue licenses for a mere three hundred rupees. The
weaponry used for the ‘war-against-peace’ is also easily accessible.
Nawab Saif Ali Khan, a known show biz figure of Mumbai made headlines a
week earlier by being widely lambasted by wildlife conserver’s
organizations and media for hunting an animal. They are opposing tooth
and nail the award of a prize to be given by the government to ‘Chota
Nawab’.
Should not we expect such like performance from NGOs, working (if any)
in our district? .
Ejaz Ahmed
Islamabad
01 Feb 2010
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|