Probe into killing of precious Water Birds begins in Azad Kashmir        
Altaf Hamid Rao 'Pakistan Times' AJK Bureau Chief     
       
MIRPUR (AJK): After the issue of the recent killing of hundreds of precious water birds has raised at the top level, a high-level inquiry has been started into the recent killing of hundreds of the birds including Bar Headed Geese and Graylag Geese (wild lives) reportedly due to eating of poisoned wheat at Mohra area located on the periphery of Mangla Dam’s reservoir in Mirpur district, district authorities announced today, Saturday. 

At the same time Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Ghulam Bashir Mughal Friday categorically contradicted a report carried by a section of the electronic media about breaking out of the epidemic of bird flue in the district following the suspicious killing of the highly-valuable water birds. 

“No any case of bird flue has been detected in the district after the incident of killing of the wild life – nor the tragic incident of loss of the geese has any link with the bird flue as reported by a section of the electronic media Thursday”, Deputy Commissioner told 'Pakistan Times' [The only daily E-Newspaper of Pakistan] 
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Deputy Commissioner said that a team of expertise of World Health Organization is also reaching Mirpur to investigate into the impacts and causes of the killing of water birds. 

He said that the local Wild Life and Fisheries Department has also sent the samples of the dead birds in the labs of the Agriculture Research Center Islamabad for anatomy of the killed water birds to get detected and confirmed the cause of their death. 

The D.C continued that anatomy of the killed geese got conducted by the administration spoke of their killing due to taking the poisoned diet – which most probably was the wheat seed mixed with the pesticides and which was reportedly sowed by the seasonal growers of the area as the preliminary 
investigations into the loss of the valuable wild life also spoke of, he added. 

The administration, he said, is investigating into the loss of the precious wild life on various angles. Ghulam Bashir Mughal said that on the directives of the AJK government Commissioner Mirpur Division Sardar Muhammad Rahim Khan has appointed Assistant Commissioner Dadayal as the Inquiry Office to investigate into the tragic episode. 

Elaborating the loss of the previous wild life, the Deputy Commissioner said that 238 geese were found dead at a site of the bank of the huge Mangla lake at Mohra village, the site where Poonch river falls into the Mangla Dam’s reservoir. 

He said that the dead birds were recovered from the site by the local Wild Life and Fisheries Department soon after the report about the incident. He said that the killed birds have been preserved for further investigations to reach into the conclusion of the actual cause of the incident. 

Deputy Commissioner declared that initial investigations also revealed that after water in the Mangla lake was receded every year in the stipulated season and a huge area of land become available for cultivation, the local population (seasonal cultivators) used to grow the wheat seed, mixed with the pesticides, on the land of the reservoir, to save the crop from the white-ant. 

Quoting the preliminary investigations, he said that the seasonal geese might have lost their lives after taking the pesticides-mixed wheat seed sprayed by the seasonal growers – since the standing crops were also considered to be the favorite diet of the precious seasonal birds. 

The D.C said that at the same time, a case has also been registered against several unlawful hunters in Dadayal Police station under the AJK Wild Life Act 1975 for their alleged involvement into the killing of the precious Wild Life. 

He said that challans of four of the accused have been moved into the court of law for trial. “Police has also started investigations into the incident on the report of the local wild life department”, he added. 

He pointed out that thousands of the water birds including the most precious Bar Headed Geese and Graylag Geese, Ruddy Shelduck and Geese flew from Siberia to the Mangla dam’s huge reservoir every year in search of the food. He said that lush green standing crops along the reservoir are also considered to be the most favorite diet of these birds. 

Meanwhile an integrated strategy has been evolved by the Wild Life and Fisheries Department to protect the wild life in Azad Jammu Kashmir through thwarting the attempts of illicit hunting and other unlawful means by the unauthorized hunters, official sources said. 

The sources close to the Wild Life Department said that the authorities have launched the extensive drive to discourage the unlawful hunting and other illicit practices under the spirit to save the precious wild life. 

The sources said that the department has decided to intensify the steps after the recent loss of hundreds of the precious water birds at the banks of the Mangla Dam’s reservoir reportedly due to taking the poisoned diet (wheat-seed and standing crops mixed with the pesticides) at the banks of the Mangla lake. •