Chitral Gol national park: Better late than never

CHITRAL, March 6: After failing to arrest the poachers who killed a 10-year-old Markhor last month, the management of Chitral Gol National Park has set up a checkpoint on the road leading to the park to keep away the poachers in future. It, however, seems strange that the management of the park remained negligent towards its basic duty of protecting the precious animals. If it is unable to protect the wildlife in the park situated near Chitral town can its officials be expected of any better work in remote mountains of the rugged valley. Last month, it was chitraltoday.net which broke the news of the poaching of the Markhor in the national park. The news was later picked by the national media, leading to a suo motu notice by the high court of the province. The chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, has ordered the district administration and the police to arrest the culprits. It is alleged that despite publication of the registration number of the vehicle in which the poacher had escaped after killing the Markhor, the police have not been able to trace its owners. As a face-saving, the park administration has now decided that the gate of the park would remain locked after sunset and  unauthorized persons would not be allowed to enter the park at night. This showed that so far there were no arrangements even to close the gate at night and there was also no restrictions on the entry of unauthorized people into the area.    ]]>