All political and religious parties agreed on Monday to follow a standard procedure worked out by the Sindh government regarding collection of sacrificial hides during the three days of the forthcoming Eidul Azha.
Presiding over a meeting held under the directives of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Home Minister Manzoor Wasan was assured of full cooperation by the participants.
The meeting was attended by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Raza Haroon and Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Sunni Tehreek’s Shahid Ghauri, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Muhammad Hussain Mahenti and Nasrullah Shaji, Pakistan People’s Party’s Najmi Alam and Saeed Ghani, and Awami National Party’s Shahi Syed.
Besides, officials of the Pakistan Rangers-Sindh and Karachi police were also present in the meeting.
According to sources, some participants expressed reservations over implementation of the code of conduct, following which Wasan and law enforcement agencies’ officials tried to alleviate their fears by providing them assurances.
Representatives of the political and religious parties were informed that under the new guidelines, collection of sacrificial animals’ hides without obtaining written permission from the District Coordination Officer’s office would be banned, and people found involved in collecting sacrificial hides without permission would be booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The participants were also informed that the government has imposed Section 144 in the province to maintain order during the Eid holidays.
Wasan said all the parties collecting hides would have to maintain a proper record of hides they would be collecting from the people.
Representatives of all the parties unanimously agreed to cooperate with the authorities in maintaining the atmosphere of brotherhood, peace and cohesion in the province during Eidul Azha.