Pakistan’s First-Ever International Conference on Animal Rights Ends on a High Note

Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Athar Minallah commended the organizers of Pakistan’s first-ever International Animal and Environmental Rights Conference held in Lahore (18-19 Jan, 2025) for organizing a conference on a subject that is close to every Pakistani’s heart.

He said that as a judge of the Supreme Court, it was not easy for him to accept an invitation to a public gathering and address a seminar but the subject of the conference and the purpose of the seminar convinced me that I must attend and address on this important topic.

He praised the organizer, the award-winning Pakistani Interspecies Justice lawyer, an activist, philanthropist, and a teacher of animal laws Altamush Saeed, Founder of Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants and Co-Founder of Charity Doings Foundation and the co-founder Ahmad Malik CEO of Charity Doings Foundation— for raising public awareness on such an important subject that deals with animals’ rights and environment challenges.

Justice Minallah said the world, particularly Pakistan was confronted with serious environmental challenges and one of the causes of the rising temperatures and melting glaciers was that we were trespassing in the kingdom of animals. He said:

If we preserve their natural habitat and don’t disturb them, I can assure nature would remain intact and there would be no threat to our forests or eco-system.

The conference was attended by a large audience, particularly the youth from various universities and colleges, animal lovers, and members of civil society. Those who addressed and interacted with the audience included the national and international animal rights groups representatives, economists keeping an eye on the businesses related to animal sales, farm animals’ rights activists, wild animal rights champions, legal fraternity, and activists.

During the two days, the conference provided the opportunity to listen to the stalwarts of animal rights. This included Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Ayesha Malik of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Jawad Hassan of the Lahore High Court, President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) Manzoor Butt, AHC Abuzar Niazi, Lt General Omer Hayat Former Chairman NDMA, co-organizer and former SCP clerk & NUST Faculty member Bilquees Bano Vardag, animal rights activists Ayeza Haider, Nabeeha Ayaz, Romana Bhatti, Zeba Masood from Peshawar, and artist Faryal Gauhar, journalists Sana Roger and Yusra Askari, Barrister Ahmad Pansota, Four Paws Project Director Dr Amir Khalil, WWF Pakistan’s Hamera Aisha, Legal Counsel for Animals Australia, Shatha Hamade,  Dr Gulbike Mirzaoglu from Animetrics.

In his keynote address, Justice Minallah highly complimented International Animals Welfare Group, Four Paws—Project Director, Dr. Amir Khalil, and his team for rescuing the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ Kavaan from Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo and transferring it to a sanctuary for elephants in Cambodia.

Justice Athar Minallah recalled the days when he was Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and a number of petitions landed in the court regarding the welfare of animals and the provision of various facilities in the Islamabad Zoo.

This was the time when Dr Amir Khalil and his team were already in the federal capital looking after Kavaan and coping with multiple challenges including the lack of cooperation from the government of the day and inappropriate conditions they were working in, he said.

Justice Athar Minallah appreciated Dr Amir Khalil who was also sitting in the audience for giving a number of recommendations that helped the court have a clear picture of the deteriorating state of affairs at the zoo in general and the condition of the elephant in particular.

According to those recommendations, in Pakistan, there was no such place as could be termed suitable or friendly for an elephant’s permanent stay, said Justice Minallah adding an elephant being a social animal cannot live a natural life in isolation, let alone the dungeon for animals known as the Islamabad Zoo.

Not only the zoo lacked a proper environment but the keepers were also without the necessary training to handle wild animals like elephants, bears, leopards, or lions, the judge said.

The matter was attracting international attention and at that time, the judge said, fortunately, the internationally acclaimed animal rights activist and the Oscar-winning US singer Cher stepped in. She visited all the way from the US to Islamabad and offered the Four Paws team as well as the government of Pakistan that she was ready to bear expenses for the safe transportation of the elephant from Islamabad to a Cambodian sanctuary.

Kavaan was thus flown out of Islamabad through a chartered cargo plane while Islamabad’s only zoo was shut down in compliance with the IHC order.

The conference organizers while thanking Justice Athar Minallah for his historic role in improving the situation for animals in Pakistan presented him the ‘Champion Award’ which the judge handed over to Dr Amir Khalil in recognition of his dedication to the animals’ welfare in Pakistan. “Kindly present this award to Kavaan on my behalf and send me his photograph,” said Justice Athar Minallah.

Dr Amir Khalil who was given an award separately, thanked Justice Athar Minallah and promised he would ‘convey’ the award to Kavaan. He held that Justice Minallah’s landmark judgment played a crucial role in creating awareness about animals’ rights worldwide.

It may be mentioned here that Justice Athar Minallah’s judgment regarding the legal rights of animals has now become an international reference whenever and wherever the question of animals’ rights is raised.

In that judgment, Justice Minallah had ruled that a zoo, no matter how well-equipped, is no less than a concentration camp for living beings. He also ruled that animals had legal rights and “after surveying the jurisprudence developed in various jurisdictions, it has become obvious that there is consensus that an ‘animal’ is not merely a ‘thing’ or ‘property.’”