On a warm Sunday evening, just a couple of days before Eid-ul-Azha, a large number of people including mostly men, children and a handful of women are seen roaming around in the cattle market of Shah Pur Kanjran, Lahore. They are here to buy sacrificial animals, or if not, to at least get an idea of the existing prices. The haggling goes on and on with interesting dialogue between the sellers and the prospective buyer. prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Since there is a ban in Punjab on the slaughtering of female animals due to the dwindling population of livestock in the province, the cattle market is only selling males of the different species. Only bulls, and rams of goat and sheep are available for buying as sacrificial animals.
A wholesale trader, Farooq Sheikh, asks the price of a goat and is stunned to hear it is around Rs200,000. He reacts with saying the quoted price is so high that only an idiot would buy it. He condemns and even abuses the seller, clad in dhoti and vest, for trying to loot people. First, the seller tries to ignore all this but when this condemnation does not stop loses patience.
Addressing Farooq he utters, “Actually you people are used to buy cheap donkey meat. You do not know how much it costs to rear a goat. My goats are not for people like you.” In a bid to justify the price, he tells the people who have gathered there by now that the goat belongs to a special breed called “beetal.” Its weight is not less than 100 kg.
As he rears and sells only this breed, he has to feed desi ghee, almond, milk, etc, to these animals. “They need special care. I don’t leave them free to eat anything from heaps of garbage like donkeys.”
Despite the insistence of sellers to charge high prices, the buyers are not willing to surrender easily and are continuing with their search for an affordable animal. The reason quoted by Amjad Ali, a businessman, is that he has to buy a goat and a bull as his family has stopped purchasing meat from the market.
The everyday disclosure about the sale of substandard meat or donkey meat has deterred them. He says the worst was that even pork was suspected to be brought to Lahore from Rawalpindi.
Amjad tells Money Matters that they have bought a new freezer with more capacity and sold the old one. “We will keep a significant share of meat in it for ourselves as it is allowed in Islam. At least we will be sure that we are eating a halal and healthy animal,” he adds.
He shares that a lot of people are buying deep freezers on instalments or on full payment just to keep stocks of meat for longer periods. He says people of Lahore have an endless love for meat but they have lost trust even in the branded meat chains who were fined for selling expired items.
Scene in the cattle market of Karachi is also very interesting as people can be seen gathering around a gigantic bull named Dabang Khan. It is so beautiful, rather majestic, that one has to make a stop near it and take a closer took. Decorated by ornaments and large-sized sunglasses put on its eyes, the animal catches attention of all and sundry.
One can see people standing in a queue to get closer to this bull of Cholistani breed and take a selfie with it. A selfie or a clip with Dabang Khan costs Rs100 to these people. Over the day, Dabang Khan’s handler Mero Khan has enough money to cover the cost of feeding this animal. “I am in no hurry to sell off my animal as it is itself generating expenses for its feed. I will sell it only when I get the desired price.”
Mero is not the owner of the bull; in fact he will get a percentage of the price it fetches. Right now he is demanding rupees one million for the animal and hopes to earn between Rs50,000 to Rs 60,000 in commission. He has been selling expensive animals owned by others for long and has a list of buyers who would spend big amounts on buying sacrificial animals. “I am calling them on phone one by one and hope they will turn up in a day or two."
Inayatullah is another livestock breeder who has brought three trucks loaded with bulls in Karachi’s cattle market. He has brought the animals from South Punjab and Upper Sindh to Karachi which he thinks is the biggest market, where buyers are ready to spend big amounts. There are some extraordinarily big and beautiful animals that carry a high price tag.
His customers are mostly big-time wholesale traders, stock market bigwigs, importers, top executives in corporate sector and so on. But this year, he says, they are not turning up during the day hours out of the fear of being spotted by tax authorities.
The other owners of highly expensive bulls (costing above rupees one million) are also worried as those who can afford to buy them are wary of tax authorities. There is a rumour that plain-clothed tax officials are following such people and observing their buying habits.
One of them says that one of his regular customers has bought the bull in the name of his cousin who is an expatriate and lives in UK. The expatriates returning to Pakistan to celebrate Eid cannot be taxed, he adds.
There are six types of bulls found in Pakistan and offered for sale on Eid-ul-Azha. Cholistani breed is found in Rahim Yar Khan, Bahwalpur and Rajanpur and its weight, size and meat are more than any other breed in Pakistan. Sometimes, its weight increases to more than 560 kgs (14 maunds). This breed is famous due to its delicious meat, white colour and brown spots.
Dhanni breed can be seen in Chakwal, Jhelum, Attock and Rawalpindi. Its weight is around 400 kg. Lohani breed is found in Loralai and its average weight is 350 kg.
Red Sindhi breed is found in Sindh province and is often reared for the purpose ploughing in interior Sindh.
Sahiwal breed is found in Sahiwal and due to its delicious meat, its meat is exported to Australia and several other countries. Finally, there is Peshaweri breed whose meat is consumed all over KP. The famous chappal kababs sold in this region are made of minced meat of this breed.
Camel is also in demand for slaughtering on Eid but it is most sought after in Multan. Mostly the landlords and descendants of Sufi saints like Makhdooms, Gillanis, Gardezis, and Qureshis purchase camels to slaughter them at their compounds and shrines of their forefathers. In this way they stay connected with the masses, their disciples and their voters.
Salim Mazari rears camels only. Whenever Eid-ul-Azha approaches, he brings his animals to Multan cattle market where he sells them at good prices. He tells he has sold his camel for 0.2 million rupees but another seller could sell a similar camel 0.3 million rupees.
He says the reason was that the manager of a pir sahib (spiritual leader) demanded Rs50,000 from that person if he wanted to get higher than the real price of his animal. "These people can pay big prices as they receive a lot of money in nazrana from people who visit shrines," he adds.
The writer is a staff member