Finding a professional butcher an uphill task

Islamabad : Finding a professional butcher to perform Islamic ritual of slaughtering the animals at reasonable rates has become an uphill task for most of the people ahead of Eidul Azha.

“A great number of professional butchers are taking more and more orders from the people to gain maximum profit for slaughtering the animals on the occasion of Eid,” according to a survey conducted by this scribe. Further details revealed that the butchers in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are demanding rates of Rs10, 000 to Rs15,000 for slaughtering big animals such as bull, cow, and camel while Rs3,000 to Rs6,000 for small animals such as goats or sheep. Imran Abbasi, a resident of F-10 Markaz said, it has become immensely difficult to buy animals to perform sacrifice rituals due to the prevailing inflation in the country and we have to roam around the outskirts of the city to find animals at an affordable rate.

After buying an animal, hiring a professional butcher on minimal charges to perform the ritual is another herculean task, he said while talking to this agency. Irum Saba, a government employee said, although different stores are offering packages of sacrificing animals on their own taking a share of money from people but the amount of share is too much and the meat they are handing over is too low in quantity.

“We also cannot rely on online shops in terms of quality of meat and procedures adopted for sacrificing animals so left with no option to buy an animal and hire a professional butcher,” she said. She said that the butchers charge heavily and after sacrificing animals start demanding meat of their own choice and hides of animal which is unjustified. Maqsood Ahmad, a butcher in G-9 Markaz said they charge high amounts due to their professional work as there are many butchers who don’t know how to slaughter the animal and cut the meat properly.

“The butchers lack expertise about the procedure to bring down animals to the grounds and are also unable to cut the meat properly. Such non-professional butchers also end up damaging hides of the sacrificial animals,” he said.

animals sale: The sale of sacrificial animals is in full swing in 10 temporary markets of the district and several other points ahead of only two days to Eidul Azha.

The owners of the sacrificial animal have decorated their animals with colourful ornaments to attract the people. Mushtaq, a vendor said, this time prices were higher than last year because of high rates of feed, vaccination, and transportation. According to a market survey, vendors are leaving a narrow bargaining margin for the buyers. They are acting as a cartel by keeping the prices of low-weight goats at Rs35,000 to Rs45,000. For a pair of goats, they demand Rs65,000 to Rs85,000. The animal sellers are charging higher prices for goats keeping in view the rising red meat prices in the current year. A seller said they inject medicine to protect their animals from malaria and fever since the disease kills more of their animals than the Congo virus.