Mistaken identity: Donkeys seized as locals suspect meat will be sold

Truckload of animals seized from Abbottabad, but later released

ABBOTABAD: When television channels reported that a truckload of donkeys was seized from a slaughterhouse in Komila on Saturday night, the question that immediately sprung to the minds of locals was; were these animals meant to feed the people of Abbottabad?

Some eyewitnesses coming out of a nearby mosque after offering Taraveeh at night found a truck loaded with donkeys entering the slaughter house. Worried their meat could be used to feed locals, some citizens informed the police. “I wasted no time when I saw a truck loaded with donkeys was parked inside the slaughter house”, said Waqas, a resident of Mohalla Komila. He added the demand of meat grows manifold during Ramazan and suspected that some profiteers had plotted to make a quick buck by selling donkey meat.

Raid 

A police party, headed by Cantonment SHO Hafeez, raided the slaughter house and took the truckload of donkeys and two people to the police station. However, after a couple of hours of interrogation, the two men were released and allowed to carry on.



When asked, the SHO confirmed a truck carrying some donkeys and a buffalo was impounded just outside the slaughterhouse. He said of the two men questioned, one of them was identified as Faisal Shah. The detainees said they were businessmen and brought donkeys from Punjab to the market in Hazara Division.



About the truck being parked inside the slaughterhouse, the SHO quoted both men as saying Shah was the owner of the truckload of donkeys. The animals were about to leave for Mansehra when a farmer in Punjab asked the driver to load his buffaloes with the donkeys in the truck as it had to be dropped off at the slaughterhouse on the way. The SHO said the driver was offloading the buffaloes and was destined for Mansehra to drop off the donkeys. However, residents of the locality spotted the vehicle and suspected the owner was part of a group of butchers found selling meat from such animals. As a result, locals informed the police. The SHO said the two men were released after brief questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.