ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday lifted the ban on the hunting of houbara bustard, a rare desert bird whose meat is prized among Arab sheikhs as aphrodisiac. A five-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali announced the verdict on the review petitions filed by the federal and provincial governments against the ban. In a 4-1 majority ruling, the court lifted the ban on hunting of the endangered bird. However, Justice Qazi Faez Isa wrote a dissenting note opposing the bench’s order. The court held that there was an “apparent error on the face of record” and set aside its Aug 19 judgment. In its 16-page judgement, the top court said the “role of the judiciary is to interpret the laws and not to legislate”. “Examination of the laws clearly shows that permanent ban on hunting of houbara bustard is not envisaged.” It is the provincial governments, the court said, which exercise discretionary power to classify animals as ‘protected’ or ‘game’ species. The Balochistan Act 2014 places houbara bustard both in protected and game animal categories, the court noted. The Red List of International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) places houbara bustard in the category of “vulnerable” below “near threatened”, “least concern” above “endangered”, “critically endangered”, “extinct in the wild” and “extinct” categories, the court said. That IUCN considers hunting primarily using falconry as a principal threat to its conservation, the court elaborated. “Even IUCN recognizes sustainable use of the natural resources,” the court said. “Considering the economic backwardness of the areas where these migratory species land, it is very hard for conservation efforts to be successful without uplifting the economic well-being of those areas,” the court observed. The Wildlife Department should take steps for the conservation of all threatened animals, the court said. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by then Chief Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja had on August 19 banned hunting of the houbara bustard. Wildlife campaigners and conservationists welcomed the decision. The court had also ordered cancellation of permits issued by the government for houbara bustard hunting. The ban was the result of a petition that recalled that Pakistan had imposed a permanent ban on the hunting of houbara bustard under the Third Schedule of the Pakistan Wildlife Ordinance 1971, after declaring the species a protected bird. But despite the ban, licenses or permits were being issued to VIPs from the Gulf States for hunting. In October, the federal government and governments of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh asked the court to review its decision. The federal government termed the invitations to Arabs for houbara hunting a “cornerstone of [Pakistan’s] foreign policy”. The government of Sindh had informed the Supreme Court earlier this month that its order relating to the ban on the hunting of houbara bustard was not implementable. Sindh government’s counsel Farooq H. Naek had said that hunting of the bird was permitted for 10 days only. The Balochistan High Court in November 2014 cancelled all permits for hunting in the province, but today’s ruling of the Supreme Court rendered the Balochistan High Court’s ruling ineffective. As the federal government concluded its arguments in the houbara bustard case earlier this month, the attorney general (AG) asked the Supreme Court to allow “sustainable hunting” of the bird. The government did not want the order set aside in its entirety, just that the ban should not be perpetual, AG Salman Butt told the SC at that time. Wealthy people from the Gulf travel to Balochistan province every winter to hunt houbara bustard using falcons, a practice that has sparked controversy in recent years because of the bird’s dwindling numbers. The issue has also cast a spotlight on traditionally close ties between Pakistan and its allies in the Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s soil is regarded as an attractive wintering ground and milieu for the migratory bird, which is also an attractive destination for hunters every year at the onset of the winter. Consequently, a large number of vulnerable species like the houbara bustard from atrocious freezing regions of Siberia migrate to Pakistan and other countries.