As Eid-ul-Azha is nearing up, butchers are making preparations for making hay while the sun shines.
In the absence of any code of law or mandatory training for butchers, one cannot differentiate the unskilled butchers from skilled ones. Due to dearth of slaughter houses, apprentice, unskilled, semi-skilled, and totally untrained people jump into this profession to make fair amount of money during the three days of Eid. Thus causing havoc to sacrificial animals.
Mincing bones with meat leave the meat useless for cooking and eating. It is hard to imagine the agony one feels at the hands of these inefficient butchers. It has been observed that majority of the unemployed youth venture into slaughtering sacrificial animals and try to gain experience so that they may earn more on the next Eid. Sometimes, people are trapped by low rates, non-availability of regular butchers, and in a bid to have an early go for sacrifice; they repent for the rest of the day.
There is a dire need of staying away from these butchers to avoid immediate loss of sacrificial animal. It would not be out of place to mention here that if government opens butchers training schools to train and educate people who want to join this field, it would be beneficial for both butchers and the consumers.
These uneducated people don’t even know how to properly dispose off animal wastes and clean the premises where animals are slaughtered. Education in this field is a must for sanitation and healthy atmosphere.
Last but not least, butchers are the most wanted persons on this Eid. They should act with decency and behave like good citizens with their customers to add to the happiness of auspicious event.
IFTIKHAR MIRZA
Islamabad
