Hindus Urge Tourism Boycott if Malta Fails to Curb Illegal Bird Hunting

Hindu Statesman Rajan Zed urges Malta to “wholeheartedly” end this illegal tradition.

Birds killed illegally in Malta - talking-naturally.co.uk

(RENO) - Expressing shock at the reported illegal spring bird hunting and trapping in Malta, Hindus have urged immediate intervention of European Union (EU).

Rajan Zed

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that the world did not understand why the Malta Government was allowing it to continue, which reportedly included killing of some protected, threatened and rare bird species. Zed urged Malta Government to “wholeheartedly” end this illegal tradition.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that thousands of migratory birds which flew through Malta on their path to breeding places in Europe were a world heritage and did not belong to Malta or any other particular country. Malta should not be allowed to shoot these valuable bird species for whose protection millions were being spent, and if it continued, EU should institute some kind of tourism boycott of Malta, Zed added.

Rajan Zed urged Malta President Dr. George Abela and Prime minister Dr. Joseph Muscat for efficient and effective government action on this issue, which was urgently needed as it was long overdue. Malta, which lied on the strategic European-African bird migration route and was said to have highest density of hunters per square mile in Europe, should show strong political will.

Zed asked for effective implementation of the conservation laws in Malta. The majority of Malta people, who are not hunters or trappers, should raise public opinion against these crimes against biodiversity, Zed argued.

Few European countries have such concentrated architecture, history, and beaches in so small an area as Malta. Maltese islands were first settled reportedly in 5,200 BCE. Hinduism is oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.