Petition seeks setting up of slaughterhouse in capital

ISLAMABAD:

A citizen has requested the Islamabad High Court to direct the chief commissioner and the Capital Development Authority chairman to establish a slaughterhouse in Islamabad and take strict action against vendors selling meat from unhealthy animals.

Petitioner Amjad Islam Malik through his counsel Yasir Mehmood Chaudhry has approached the high court for the availability of fresh, hygienic and stamped meat for the public. Apart from the chief commissioner and CDA chairman, he has also made the district health officer a respondent.

The case will be heard by Justice Aamer Farooq today (Friday).

In the petition, the counsel said that the federal capital lacks a slaughterhouse, and that with the passage of time, the quality of meat has gone down. Around two million people living in urban and rural areas of the capital are forced to consume unchecked and uncertified meat.



Chaudhry said that there were more than 200 butcher shops in Islamabad, mostly along main roads, and that meat gets contaminated at these shops because they hang cuts or whole carcasses outside. He claims there are no checks and balances placed by the respondents on the quality of meat and no solid mechanism exists to check quality or retail price at shops.

“Due to the unavailability of a slaughterhouse in Islamabad, unstamped and even ‘Haram’ meat is being sold,” he alleged in the petition. He also alleged that most meat sellers inject water into the veins of slaughtered animals to increase their weight, adding that hygienic conditions were also poor at meat shops.

He has also claimed that animal blood and entrails were being transported in open vans, which could spread various diseases.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th,  2015.