COVID-19: Fate of Karachi's annual sacrificial animal market hangs in the balance

The fate of Karachi’s annual sacrificial animal markets has fallen into confusion after the Sindh Local Government & Town Planning Department issued a withdrawal notification for the request of opening cattle markets and dry animal markets under standard operating procedures (SOPs).

On the request of the Dairy Farmers Association, the Sindh Home Department had written to the LG secretary on June 2 about the opening of the above-mentioned markets under the SOPs and policy guidelines the department had issued for businesses on April 14.

The home department asked the LG department to specify the SOPs elaborating each step relating to cattle markets. On June 3, the LG department issued SOPs for the opening of cattle markets and dry animal markets.

The SOPs included wearing masks, providing hand-washing facilities, marking the floor for vendors, putting up arrows directing the movement of buyers in two separate lanes (one for coming and the other for going), maintaining at least a three-foot distance (ideally six feet) between every two people at the markets.

On June 12, however, the LG department withdrew its notification and requested the home department to also withdraw its letter about the opening of different animal markets under SOPs “in the wake of the worsening COVID-19 situation on the ground”. The same letter was also forwarded to all the elected local bodies of the province.

Talking to The News, LG Secretary Roshan Ali Sheikh clarified that their letters and notifications were about different cattle markets in the city and not about sacrificial animal markets established every year before Eid ul Azha.

“There was a request from the home department to devise SOPs,” he said, adding that they have withdrawn their letter and also requested the home department to withdraw its letter.

“This is for the dry and milking animal markets that are regularly set up in the city,” he pointed out, saying that the Sindh government and the home department will look into the matter of sacrificial animal markets.

Meanwhile, the Cantonment Board Malir has already issued the tender for the establishment of the main sacrificial animal market in Sohrab Goth at the Super Highway. The tender has been won by the Hassan Brothers Company. The market’s administrator Muzaffar told The News that they have already started work to set up the market.

The market’s spokesman Yawar Chawla said they don’t have direct interaction with the provincial government about different affairs of the market, but with the Cantonment Board Malir instead.

Chawla said that by Monday (today), they will have clarity on the fate of the market from the high-ups. “We have two realities: COVID-19 and a religious ritual,” he said, adding that the city’s people need at least 600,000 sacrificial animals for Eid ul Azha that the government has to provide.

He also said they appreciate the decision of the provincial government not to establish sacrificial animal markets in every nook and corner of the city.

He explained that the sacrificial animal market will be set up over 1,000 acres with 48 blocks. “There will be 1,000 security guards of the Malir Cantonment to ensure that the SOPs are being complied with.”

Chawla said that no one in the market, including animal sellers and buyers, will be allowed to enter or walk around without a mask. Women, children and men over the age of 60 will not be allowed at all, he added. “We are discouraging any festivities inside the market.”

As for the VIP tents where the bigger animals are put on display, he said that there may be VIP tents, but no such things as catwalk of animals, and even at the food stalls, only packed food will be allowed.

Originally published in The News