Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the transfer of administrative control of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to the Ministry of Interior.
This decision was made under Rule 3(3) of the Rules of Business, 1973. The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, including all its assets and accessories, has been transferred to the Ministry of Interior. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed that the transfer be finalized within one month.
Earlier this year, a controversy emerged between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the IWMB when the civic authority sealed the ‘Visitors’ Information Center’ near Trail-V.
The Visitors’ Information Centers, managed by the IWMB since 2015, guided visitors and supported wildlife protection on Margalla Hills. Later, the Supreme Court ordered the CDA to return the information centers on Trail 5 and Trail 6, and the animal sanctuary in the Margalla Hills foothills, to the Wildlife Management Board.
The court observed that the IWMB was not given notice or a chance to be heard before being evicted. As a result, the CDA was ordered to return the property, including all equipment and furniture, to the IWMB.