the latest headlines. us president donald trump has told reporters he will bring forward a new executive order to replace the proposed travel ban suspended by the courts. it barred entry to the us from citizens of seven mainly muslim nations of the clashes in baghdad have left at least five people dead. the trouble broke out between the security forces and supporters of a shia muslim cleric. people have been killed in a suicide attack in helmand province foot it targeted afg ha n helmand province foot it targeted afghan soldiers queueing up outside a bank to collect salaries. workers are trying to help hundreds of whales stranded on a beach in new zealand. it is the latest incident following the death of 300 wales on the same beach on friday. at ten o'clock, sean will be here with a full round—up of today's

news. now for our world. we look at whether conservation gains in india have come at too high a price. rhinos are one of the world's most endangered species. but how far should we go to protect them? we're inside india's greatest national park to discover its dark secret. when we see any people at night—time, we are ordered to shoot them. authorities are evicting villagers. there is nojury, no judge, no questioning. the park has maimed, killed and it is alleged even tortured people. there is no question that rhinos should be protected, but at what cost? this is the inside story of the indian national park, and those killed in the name

of conservation. this is kaziranga national park, one of the greatest wildlife reserves on earth. the home to two thirds of the world's population of indian rhinos. look at this. what a magnificent animal! they look just incredible, don't they? they look like tanks with those great folds of grey skin, like armour plating. but, actually, they are much more vulnerable than they look.

the park is a huge attraction for tourists and wildlife enthusiasts. david attenborough‘s team came here for planet earth 2. the duke and duchess of cambridge visited last year on their first tour of india. kaziranga is an incredible story of conservation success. there were only a handful of rhinos left when the park was set up a century ago. now, there are more than 2a00. but kaziranga's success has a dark side. this is the story they don't tell you on the glossy wildlife documentaries,

and tourists like william and kate never hear about. so, what is kaziranga's untold secret? tourists have gone, the park is closed and i have been invited on a night patrol. walking in the forest in the dark is a dangerous business. what are you looking for? some animals might be sitting here, they might attack us. there is a rhino just next to us! he's looking at us. the park is huge, more than 400 kilometres square, and there are around 1200 park guards. it looks like this fellow had been in a scrap with another rhino. luckily, it was in no mood to charge us. the guards are here to protect him from the most vicious predator there is...

man. and, for that, they have been given extraordinary powers. when you see poachers, or hunters, you start hunting them. you shoot them? yes. and you have orders to do that? yes. we are allowed to shoot them, whenever you see there are poachers or people doing night tine, we are ordered to shoot them. this man has shot at suspected poachers twice in his four years as a guard, but has never killed anyone. he knows there are unlikely to be any consequences if he did. lawyers say the powers he has are similar to those given to armed forces policing unrest. we used to sit here all night. the park says these powers are essential to fight poaching. but the discretion to shoot and kill is an incredible responsibility.

it could so easily be abused. when i meet the director of the park, he gives me the official line on what critics call the park's shoot on sight policy. at first we have to warn them, "who are you?" if they can't certify we have to kill them. first we try to arrest them so we get the information. what are the linkages? who are the others in the gang? how many people have been killed in the last five years? if you allow me, i have the figures. in the year 2015, 23 poachers were killed, when poaching was at a peak. then in the year 2014,

22 poachers were killed. again in 2013, fivepoachers were killed. so, hold on. that's 50 people killed in the last three years. that is quite a lot? due to a rise in the price of rhino horn, they are luring the local people. still we have some information that around 300—plus suspected people are there, who may be involved in the poaching. kaziranga is the only park in india which uses these powers. but there are plans to roll them out elsewhere. that was really interesting. what surprises me is just how many people have been killed in the park. 50 people in the last three years. that seems a lot of people. in the communities around the park, the rising death toll has become a major issue. kaziranga is, like the rest

of india, densely populated. this is one of many tribal communities that have lived in or alongside the forest for centuries. they say increasing numbers of innocent villagers are being shot. look at this. this is the village road. just over here is the national park full of all those wild animals. there are no fences, no signs, and if i was to step across, and into it, there is a real danger that i could be shot. gaonbura's parents believe their son mistakenly crossed into the park in december 2013. 25—year—old gaonbura had been looking after the family's two cows. his father believes the cows strayed into the park, and his son, who had severe learning difficulties, went in to try and find them.

translation: my son was shot in the chest by park rangers. they also slashed his arm. i don't know whether they used an axe or something else. kaziranga told the bbc that guards shot gaonbura when he did not respond to a warning. he could barely do up his own trousers, or his shoes. everyone knew him in the area because he was so disabled. i have not filed a court case. i am a poor man. i can't afford to take them on. i don't know anything about how the law works. what can i do? the park is under huge pressure to crack down on poaching. with 170,000 visitors, kaziranga is by far the biggest tourist attraction in assam. these economic benefits have made

poaching a major political issue. in 2013, when the number of rhinos killed more than doubled to 27, local politicians demanded action. the then head of the park was happy to oblige. delicious, authentic assamese cooking. i havejust been reading a report written by the former director of the park a couple of years ago. it talks about his philosophy of how the park should be run. he says, anyone in the park — any suspect — must obey or be killed. he says there must be no unauthorised entry whatsoever. "kill the unwanted," he says.

there is an interesting section where he talks about the justice system. he says environmental crimes, including poaching, are far more serious than murder. the then park chief put his uncompromising doctrine into practice. the number of people killed started to rise. 22 in 2014, 23 the following year. and, as the park's battle against poaching gathered intensity, there were to be other casualties. a jeep rushes into the local hospital. inside is a badly injured boy. this seven—year—old has been shot in the leg. "i am going to die," he cries. "don't worry, you will not die," his mother says. translation: i was just coming back from the shop. the forest guards were shouting rhinoceros, rhinoceros. then the forest guards

suddenly shot me. the path to the shop runs alongside the national park. translation: when i got to him, he was crying. i rushed to him. he was lying in a pool of blood. what is the condition of the wound now? translation: they took muscle from here and they grafted it here, but it has not worked well. just look at it. he has changed. he used to be cheerful, but he is not any more. in the night, he wakes up and cries for his mother. six months on, and akash can still barely walk. his brother has to carry him to school. the park says it was a terrible mistake. it paid akash‘s medical expenses and $3000 compensation. there was a huge outcry.

hundreds protested that the park does not do enough to control the guards. they say the deaths are often not investigated thoroughly. many victims are never identified, for example. their bodies were found inside the national park. the forest department claimed they were poachers, so they were found inside the national park. and then they washed off their hands from those issues. they never bothered to look back into it. this amount on impunity is dangerous, because it is creating an animosity between the national park and the people living living nearby. these guards are preparing an ambush in the park. they said it was too dangerous for us tojoin them. the park explains the high death toll, saying the poachers die in shootouts with guards.

this compared to the 106 people shot dead by guards over the same period. the park is being run with utmost brutality. these are "extrajudicial" executions. there's no jury, no judge, no questioning. people are being killed in these encounters. these are notjust poachers, but also local, tribal people. the terrifying thing is that there are plans to roll out this "shoot on sight" policy across the whole of india. three months on, and local people are protesting outside the park headquarters, yet again. this time, the allegation is torture. they bring the victim in a push cart. this victim was picked up by forest guards and brought to the park

headquarters where he was accused of smuggling bullets for a poaching gang. he says the questioning was aggressive. very aggressive. and with your hands tied here, and your legs tied here? translation: they gave me an electric shock here on my knees and here on my elbows. and here on my groin, too. they kept on hitting me. i was tied up, so every time they hit me, i fell over. the officer said keep on torturing him. then he will speak the truth. i kept on telling them that i was not a poacher, so they kept hitting me. he says that the ordeal lasted for three hours, until finally his interrogators became convinced they had the wrong man. park officials called his village head man to pick him up. translation: what the park did is unacceptable. they had no evidence

he was a poacher. how can they justify torture? if we discover that he is involved in poaching, we would take him to the park and expect him to be punished or even killed. but what they did was outrageous. kaziranga says it did bring the man in for questioning, but categorically denies any harm came to him, adding it never uses electric shock during interrogation. but, again, local people are saying it is evidence their rights are being trampled by the park and, say activists, some of the world's biggest wildlife charities, are turning a blind eye. for example, wwf describes itself as a close partner of the assam forest department. they are carrying out these extra—judicial executions on a massive scale. they have been providing equipment

and funds to the forest department, and survivors have repeatedly asked to speak out against the shoot on sight policy and extra —judicial execution, which they have so far failed to do. in the past, wwf they has funded combat and ambush training for kaziranga's guards, as well as providing specialist equipment, including nightvision goggles. but what would you use nightvision goggles for in anti—poaching? one thing is to monitor how the rhinos are doing and the other is if there is any people moving deep inside the park. it is quite likely those goggles have been used to target people, who have subsequently been killed. i wonder how wwf feels about providing equipment to a park killing that many people. we have not come across any incident where the park has said the goggles

have been used for spotting people. to be honest, would they report that to you? the thing is, nobody is comfortable with killing people. what is needed is on the ground protection. this trade has to stop. the poaching has to stop. the illegal trade in rhino horn? that has to stop, poaching has to stop. but shouldn't wwf speak out? because obviously mostly wwf is funded mostly by individual donation. what do you think your donors would feel about wwf‘s involvement with a park which is involved with killing dozens and dozens of people, maiming people, and other allegations of torturing people? as i say, we are working towards it. we want the whole thing to reduce. we don't want poaching to happen. the idea is to reduce it, involving all the partners. it is notjust kaziranga, but also the enforcement agencies, also the local people.

i think the main thing is to work with the local people. and the bad news is it is notjust the anti—poaching effort that threatens local people. you can see tigers in kaziranga, but they are extremely elusive. it is easier in ranthambore, in semi—arid rajasthan. ‘l%)7’f7s