— Campaign creates awareness, sensitivity about donations among different sections of society
LAHORE: People urged through a Safe Hide Collection Campaign, launched at different levels with the start of the sacred month of Zil-Hajj, to create awareness and sensitivity among the society to donate animal hides carefully and responsibly.
The Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL) and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) jointly launched the multi-pronged campaign in the start of the twelfth and the final month in the Islamic calendar in which the pilgrimage takes place as well as the Festival of the Sacrifice.
As part of this year’s campaign, awareness desks were set up inside all seven cattle markets in Lahore to appeal visitors to contribute their donations [in the shape of animals hide] that would not endanger safety and progress of Pakistan. Besides billboards on important places, banners and flexes were put up on poles, as well as messages on auto rickshaws in and around Lahore.
Centre for Peace and Secular Studies (CPSS) Executive Director Diep Saeeda appreciated the government for issuing a ban on collection of animal hides by proscribed outfits during Eid-ul-Azha. She said that all activists of the militants and sectarian groups should be kept under surveillance; no prescribed and banned organisation should be allowed to collect hides, directly or indirectly.
Audio messages on charity with responsibility by celebrities such as Naghma Begum, Aurangzaib Leghari, Shujaat Hashmi, Abid Kashmiri and Hamid Rana are being aired on different radio stations in Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Multan. Like the previous year, the Safe Hide Collection Campaign aims to create awareness among the general public about donating hides of sacrificial animals.
Diep pointed out that some banned groups tend to change their names and set up charities to continue with hide collection. She expressed the hope that people would donate animal hides with all care and responsibility to help needy individuals or established charity organisations. “We must realise that our donations shouldn’t be used against our people and our country,” she said, adding that just keep in mind to donate animal hide or charity money carefully.
