Big money: NGOs, banned outfits join race to collect hides

After ban on loudspeakers, parties use social media.

KARACHI:

A group of young men are going door-to-door at the residential apartments in Gulshan-e-Iqbal distributing slips prior to qurbani to collect skins of sacrificial animals. In another locality, shopkeepers and even pizza delivery boys are found slipping pamphlets into their customer’s orders to collect hides.

The race to obtain animal skins gets hotter with the increasing number of billboards and banners put up across the city. In block 13-D of Gulshan, a resident said they have received a slip and were asked to commit to giving away the skin of their sacrificial goat this Eid. In other areas, door-to-door campaigns are on the rise as Abdul Hai of North Karachi said that they received briefings from people of a charity organisation on the welfare work done by their body for the poor and needy, and how much the hides meant to them.



Billboards and hoardings seem to be doing most of the work for the welfare organisations of political parties and other charitable organisations aiming to collect hides. With the Sindh government’s ban on the use of loudspeakers, the parties and welfare organisations have also found the social media an effective tool.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s social media strategy head Ali Raza was rooting for their welfare organisation, the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation. With hashtag #ServingHumanityKKF running on twitter, the MQM leader is asking people to text him for skin collections in their locality.

On the other hand, alKhidmat Foundation, a subsidiary of Jamaat-e-Islami which is active on Facebook, is appealing for the donation of skins for the relief of the earthquake victims in Balochistan. “We have advertised in newspapers and distributed pamphlets,” said their spokesperson, Hasan Ahmed on the social networking website.

Banned outfits appeal

Across the famous Sultan Masjid in DHA, a banner makes an appeal to the people to donate animal skins. The blue, red and white banner belongs to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a banned outfit, which is officially not allowed to collect hides or offer slaughter services.

Another banner hangs at the Bahria-Ittehad intersection in DHA, where the party which also mentions their welfare organisation, the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation, has slashed the charges of sacrificial animals - Rs56,000 for a cow, Rs13,000 for a goat, and Rs8,000 for one share of a cow.

The adviser to the home department, Sharifuddin Memon, claimed he is not aware of the JuD advertisements. “The outfit is not allowed to collect skins, and action will be taken against them.” A spokesperson for the JuD, Abu Abdullah, on the other hand, stated that they had a no-objections certificate from the home department. “We have permission and are collecting skins all over the country. Last year, the JUD was advertising and collecting skins but no action was taken then.”

Meanwhile, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the new face of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, is also collecting hides and has set up banners in North Nazimabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2013.