Sardar Naseer Tareen
Nawab Taimoor Shah Jogezai
Sardar Naseer Tareen had an affinity for wildlife conservation from early on. He studied filmmaking from the California Institute of Arts and made several documentaries including “Wildlife of Balochistan” on the teeming wildlife in the province, focusing his attention on the Turgur Mountains. This region was replete with wildlife such as the Suleman markhor and Afghan urial. He was deeply concerned with the decline in their numbers due to poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
Himself a hunter, Nawab Taimoor Shah Jogezai became a privileged witness to the depletion of wildlife. After noticing the near extinction of Markhor and Urial in many of the adjacent mountains, the Nawab decided to ban the hunting of animals in Torghar, one of the last strongholds of these species. The TCP was born under his auspices. The initial enforcement of the ban was enabled by both his tribal authority, as well as his official status within the government.
The TCP later knows as STEP was founded in 1985 through the efforts of the local Pathan tribal chieftain, the late Nawab Taimoor Shah Jogezai and of Sardar Naseer Tareen, in consultation with wildlife biologists from the United States of America. At that time, Sardar Tareen and his associates also formally established the Society for Torghar Environmental Protection (STEP). This programme led the wild goat Suleiman Markhor (Capra falconeric jerdoni), listed on Appendix I of CITES, to be saved from extinction in the region. The population of wild goat and wild sheep Afghan Urial, estimated to be less than 100 and 200 animals respectively when TCP was launched, has now surpassed 3000, thanks to their brilliant intervention.