PHOTO: EXPRESS
Men on bicycles and motorcycles regularly stop by, sending the birds into frenzy. Many begin to circle overhead, ready to dive in for their first helping of the day.
The men are selling meat for the birds in the name of charity (sadqa). Customers come by and ask about the price. If they make a purchase, the seller puts some meat in a plate and allows the customer to touch the plate before he empties the plate on to the footpath. The birds nosedive on the meat and clean up within seconds.
There was a time that this went on all day, but now it is only seen from around sunrise till 9am, and then again in the afternoon from 3pm till sunset. In between, municipal corporation employees do not allow the meat vendors to sit over here.
This is also why, if a camera is pointed at the meat vendors, they quickly pack up and flee.
The other scavenger buffet area is Samundari Road, where every hundred metres or so around the bridges, there are signs asking people to buy charity meat. Vendors sit next to the signs, and the overall ambience is reminiscent of that around near the university wall.
Aslam is a meat seller at Samundari Road. The resident of Saloni Jhal has four children. He used to work as a tailor, but due to his worsening eyesight, he decided to switch careers. For the past six months, he has bought meat in Saloni Jhal, chopped it up at home, and sold it as charity meat. Aslam says that he earns Rs500 to Rs600 a day, which is enough to cover his household expenses. He says that people give charity with the hope that tough times become better. Those who come in cars spend between Rs200 to Rs500 rupees, motorcyclists usually spend between Rs30 and Rs100.
Aslam said his busiest days are Sunday and Tuesday. He surprisingly added that charity meat sales are a cutthroat business and that it is not just municipal corporation employees that make life hard, but also other meat vendors, who often find ways to keep newcomers from entering the trade out of fear that it may have an impact on their sales.
Arshad, a meat seller who lives near Jhal Bridge, has been selling meat for a year now. He used to work as a day-labourer to run his household, which includes six children. He complained that municipal corporation employees take no action against food carts which are on the streets and blocking the thoroughfare but keep removing vendors who sit on the footpath. He said they have to run off with their supplies as soon as they see municipal corporation staff arrive and they only return once the coast is clear.
Sohail is a resident of D Type Colony and runs a local cloth shop. He says that he donates Rs50 of meat every day on his way to work. He believes that this good deed leads more customers to find their way to his shop.
Mobeen runs a call centre and just paid for Rs200 worth of meat. He says that charitable acts can help ease many problems. He says that these donations help feed the local birds while also helping the vendors.
But not everyone is happy with the roadside operations. Tehsil Municipal Corporation Officer Sardar Naseer says that vendors on the footpaths obstruct the path for pedestrians, and their customers in cars or on motorcycles end up blocking the road. “This is why they are stopped from sitting here,” he explained. He said that it is their job to remove encroachments “and we do our duty”.
Meanwhile, on the religious front, religious scholar Maulana Yusuf Nur opined that giving meat to birds counts as a good deed but he does not consider it to fall within the ambit of a ‘religious charitable act’.
He said that charity for religious purposes is what is spent on humans, be it in the shape of cash or basic essentials, and giving meat to birds would not meet that criteria. At the same time, he reiterated that birds are also Allah’s creation and feeding them is most definitely a good deed.
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