KARACHI:
Apart from its immense significance as a religious, Eidul Azha is a source of livelihood in Pakistan for major stakeholders including butchers, livestock traders and the tanning industry. However, in these testing times, it is necessary to mold our old economic and religious practices in accordance with a new framework brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Primarily, it is important that the authorities curtail the gathering of people in livestock markets as it could cause a sudden surge in the coronavirus infections and exacerbate its spread. Healthcare practitioners have seriously warned us about the gravity in the Eidul Azha aftermath if the situation goes out of hand. The cases might spike and on the top of that a second wave, which could initiate itself rather quickly, would create mass havoc and irrevocable damage with repercussions beyond measure. Although the National Command and Operation Center has allowed small livestock markets on the outskirts of cities with strict SOPs, such a balance between economic and religious priorities with precautions to fight the virus remains a workable solution only on paper. It is undeniable that SOPs are widely flouted in the livestock markets. Nonetheless, as people have great cultural and religious affiliations with this occasion, it is imperative that authorities should enforce strict SOPs so that those rushing to the livestock markets do not end up being the spreaders of the virus as they return to their neighborhoods.
While collective sacrifice has a lot of religious significance, in order to minimise the hovering threat of a second wave, slaughtering in neighbourhoods should be regulated to ensure hygiene. Apart from this, the authorities concerned should ensure that the offal of sacrificial animals is properly disposed of instead of being thrown out on the streets.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2020.
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