Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has directed the Sindh Government to submit a report in seven days about the import of a large number of infected sheep from Australia at Port Qasim and to identify the persons responsible. Recently, a Sindh Government official had said that media reports suggesting that sheep recently imported from Australia were infected with a contagious bacteria, are baseless and fabricated. The import of the sheep had raised alarm bells throughout Pakistan.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain had claimed that medical reports had confirmed that the sheep were infected with the disease and that their meat was unfit for consumption. He had demanded an inquiry into the issue, adding that the government should prohibit the sale of the infected sheep. However, reports emerged on Sunday that commissioner Karachi, Roshan Ali Shaikh had ordered dumping of the infected sheep after administering poisonous injections to them. The Australian high commissioner to Pakistan Peter Heyward has insisted that the sheep were healthy and the refusal by Bahrain to offload them was puzzling.