Islamabad, Jan. 8: Not the big birds of steel in Pathankot but the Houbara bustard - the endangered migratory bird prized by hunters from the Gulf - is keeping conspiracy theories boiling in Sindh.

The Sindh government has indicated to the Pakistan Supreme Court that a ban on hunting the Houbara bustard would be akin to playing into the hands of India.

The Sindh government's counsel, Farooq H. Naek, feels that a ban would stop investments by Gulf countries in Pakistan and this would serve the purpose of India which does not want the neighbouring country to develop.

But Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that the issue should not be made into a conspiracy without documented evidence.

The "India link" may appear tenuous but the claim proves that the "foreign hand", once the usual suspect in India for all transgressions under the sun, is not any one country's monopoly.

Houbara bustard hunting does have an "investment element".

The Houbara is prized by hunters from the Gulf states who flock to Pakistan every winter. In winter, the bird - the size of a chicken and once found in abundance in the Arabian peninsula - covers a 2,000km migratory route from Central Asia to the southern deserts of Pakistan and Iran and returns with the onset of summer. In the Gulf, some believe that the Houbara bustard's meat is an aphrodisiac.

Although hunting the bird is banned in Pakistan, the government grants special permits to the sheikhs on "diplomatic grounds" on the plea that they bring "investments to the social sector".

The Pakistan Supreme Court last year banned the hunting of the birds as they are close to extinction because of reckless hunting. The court also abolished the special permits.

The ban has sparked such concern that both the federal and provincial governments have challenged it before a larger bench of the top court. The federal government is not against a ban but feels that some degree of "sustainable hunting should be allowed".

It is not a domestic issue, either. During an earlier hearing, the court had wondered why the foreign ministry was interested in the case. The government lawyer replied that the matter concerned foreign dignitaries.

The Dawn newspaper had reported in 2014 that a Saudi royal hunting party had killed more than 2,000 Houbara bustards during a 21-day safari at Chagai in Balochistan.

Decades ago, Arab falconers used to hunt the Houbara bustard in India, too, but in the late 1970s a ban was imposed in the country.