PESHAWAR
\nAs only five days left in Eidul Azha celebrations, the sacrificial animals started pouring in from Punjab province to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar where cattle dealers are earning maximum capital.
\nAll the main and small cattle markets in Peshawar including Lala Kalay, Ring Road, Hayatabad and Bakhshu bridge are flooded with sacrficial animals mostly transported from Sahiwal, Lala Musa, Lahore, Attock, Rawalpindi, DG Khan, Jehlum and Bhakkar districts of Punjab.
\n\u201cI have brought 12 load trucks of sacrificial animals from Punjab to meet the pressing demands of the people on occasion of Eidul Azha,\u201d said Ibrahim Khan, an inter-provincial cattle dealer of Peshawar at Lala Kala market while talking to APP on Friday.
\nHe said the prices of large sacrficial animals including oxen, buffaloes, camels and cows was relatively reasonable compare to small animals such as goat and sheep in local market on occasion of Eidul Azha. The prices of small animals including goat and sheep are very high because of the last year devastated floods.
\nRiazul Haq (57), a former PST teacher cleaning his perspirations with a white handkerchief in local cattle market, was seen engaged in hectic arguments with cattle traders one after another hoping to buy a small sacrificial animal at reasonable price to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) and Hazrat Ismail (AS) on Thursday.
\nEngaged with arguments with cattle traders at Pabbi bazzar, Riazul Haq was seen using his argument skills besides making determined efforts to convince the cattle dealers after they declined his Rs50,000 offer for a Kohistani sheep.
\n\u201cI came from hometown Mohib Banda to Pabbi cattle market at morning with a hope to buy a goat or a sheep on reasonable price but its prices was sky high, and performance of \u201cQurbani\u201d is merely a dream for many government employees this year.
\nCleaning his perspiration from his face and hands with his long white handkerchief on his head to avoid heatstroke, Riaz said that he spent almost an entire day to buy a suitable sacrificial animal at Peshawar and Nowshera cattle markets on reasonable prices but in vain.
\nThe former teacher said that he would now visit Peshawar on Sunday with the hope that prices of the animals would become down and be able to purchase his choice animal at affordable price.
\n\u201cDefinitely, I will go for collective Qurbani with my family members if prices of goat or sheep did not come down by Tuesday evening,\u201d said Qaiser Khan, a retired PESCO employee at Lala Kala Market, Peshawar while talking to APP.
\nBesides skyrocketing prices, he said poor sanitation, waste management and heat strokes fear have added the difficulties of buyers.
\nLike, Riazul Haq, many government officials and pensioners are being seen at cattle markets of Lala Kala, Ring Road, Hazar Khwani, Hayatabad and Charsadda Road in Peshawar, Amangarh, Akora Khattak, Risalpur and Pabbi Nowshera district with abundance of sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eidul Azha.
\nDuring a market survey conduced by APP on Friday afternoon, it was found in different cattle markets that the visitors especially government employees were more in number than buyers as most of them came to the markets to have an idea about the prices, however traders are expecting that the sale of cattle would reach to its peak as Eidul Azha approaches nearer and all their stock would be sold out as per their price demand.
\n\u201cSince last Thursday, I have sold only 15 oxens out of 50 available with me. The buyers mostly government employees comes to cattle markets to take an idea about the prices and then most of them return empty hands due to scorching heat,\u201d said Dilfarshah Khan, an inter provincial cattle trader of Nowshera.
\n\u201cI have brought 15 trucks having five buffaloes and oxen from Punjab to Nowshera and Peshawar and only 20 animals were sold so far due to price hike and inflation,\u201d said Khan.
\nHe said increase of transportation and fodder charges have increased prices of sacrificial animals this year.
\n\u2018The dealers suffer great economic losses in case death of an animal due to heatstroke or lumpy skin disease,\u201d he added.
\nApart from domestic traders of KP and Punjab, inter-provincial businessmen of Sindh and Blochistan have also brought their stocks to Peshawar from where sacrificial animals were being transported to the seven merged tribal districts and possibly to Afghanistan for high profits.
\n\u201cI have so far brought 20 trucks of cattle from Sahiwal and my brother were sending five more trucks to Peshawar that would reach here by Sunday night,\u201d Sohail Sardar, an inter-provincial exporter of Nowshera said.
\nRefused an offer of Rs 300,000 for his ox \u2018 Sona\u2019 last Thursday, he said that any offer less than Rs. 350,000 would not be accepted.
\nDr Aftab Ahmad, Director Livestock and Dairy Development KP told APP that hundreds of thousands of cattle are being sacrificed in KP on occasion of Eidul Azha.
\nHe said KP have no viable choice but to import cattle from Punjab to ensure availability of sacrificial animals on reasonable rates to the people, adding that around 70 to 80 percent cattle are being brought form Punjab.
\nThe tripartite-export agreement between Pakistan, India and Afghanistan would immensely help meet people requirements of beef, milk and sacrificial animals.
\nThe transportation of sacrificial animals to Afghanistan are major reason behind hike of sacrificial animals prices in KP that needed to be regulated.
\nHe said that several checkpoints were established with the assistance of provincial government at various places on highways connecting KP with merged areas to control the menace of cattle smuggling.
\nLivestock department official said that fumigation spray at cattle markets are being conducted to counter animals diseases in the province.
\nThe department has deployed teams in different cattle markets for monitoring of animals and for spraying of insecticides.
\nDr Aftab Ahmad urged the cattle owners to ensure cleanliness and use mosquito repellent besides cold shelters as safety measure for protection of animals from disease and heat.
\nIn case of illness of any animal, he urged people to isolate it and inform Livestock officials for forthwith for its treatment.
\nDr Aftab said the DVM doctors were assigned tasks to visit cattle markets and ensure that animals with symptoms of lumpy skin disease may be isolated and treated on the spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR As only five days left in Eidul Azha celebrations, the sacrificial animals started pouring in from Punjab province to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar where cattle dealers are earning maximum capital. All the main and small cattle markets in Peshawar including Lala Kalay, Ring Road, Hayatabad and Bakhshu bridge are flooded with sacrficial animals mostly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-339630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n