Sir: The demoiselle crane or koonj is a migratory bird. It travels twice in a year and passes through different areas of Balochistan. In September and October, they travel towards the south and in March and April they begin their long spring journey back to their northern nesting grounds. A large number of unlawful wild birds hunters from Lakki Marwat and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year again came to Zhob, Loralai, Duki and Qila Saifullah for hunting of cranes and other water birds in the crane migrating season. Every group of hunters has been hunting more than hundreds of cranes on a daily basis in these areas. This is a violation of the Balochistan Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1975. Thousands of hunted cranes are being sent to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in pickups by road and are either used for breeding purposes or sold in the market. Wildlife protection officers and district administrative officers are taking no action against these crane hunters. They either take bribes or lack good administration. The chief minister of Balochistan should ban the hunting of cranes and take strong action against these unlawful hunters. HANIF KHAN Islamabad