LAHORE/ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Standing in the middle of a makeshift cattle market in the eastern city of Lahore, Khalid Shah is looking for customers to buy the two bulls he has nurtured for the last many months.
Shah travelled more than 400 km to reach the bustling metropolis from his hometown in Dera Ghazi Khan, and was hoping to sell his beloved bulls to somebody who could really see everything he had put into rearing them, including his love.
“I gave them a lot of love and affection,” Shah told Arab News, pointing at his handsome bulls, thronged by people more interested in photographing them than buying them.
“In fact,” Shah continued, “I think of them as my sons. I fed them butter, milk and special food made of nuts and grains. It’s like I’m here to sell my heart to a person who will ultimately give it away to please Allah.”
The price of Shah’s two bulls, and his metaphorical heart, is a whopping Rs. 350,000 ($2,186) and Rs. 400,000 ($2,498).
“The price may sound a bit excessive, but it’s nowhere near the affection I’ve given these animals,” he said.
By Saturday, a day before Eid al-Adha, the highest offer Khan had received was Rs 300,000 [$1,874], but it wasn’t enough.
Eid al-Adha is an Islamic festival where Muslims from all over the world slaughter goats, sheep and cows to commemorate a Quranic incident where the Prophet Ibrahim almost sacrificed his son in obedience to Allah.
According to the Pakistan Tanner’s Association (PTA) figures of 2017, the economy of sacrificial animals in Pakistan alone is $3 billion.
7 million animals were slaughtered last year according to the PTA, and as the ritual is followed by millions of devout Muslims in the South Asian country of 208 million people, the price tags get steeper as Eid gets closer every year.
This year however, things are different.
“I have been here (in the cattle market) for the last three days trying to sell my buffalo. However, no serious customer has so far approached me,” Feroze Khan told Arab News in Islamabad.
Last year, he said he had sold three buffalos ahead of Eid al-Adha for Rs.600,000 ($3,747), adding that no one was even willing to pay Rs 85,000 ($530) for a single animal this time.
Pakistan’s economy has been struggling under the weight of stringent International Monetary Fund conditions following a $6 billion bailout package to Islamabad earlier this year. This has led to record inflation figures, with prices of basic goods and energy skyrocketing, and growth almost grinding to a halt.
But there is another reason, livestock vendors say, that their cattle is not selling. A ban on exporting their animals to Afghanistan has led to a huge supply of animals to local markets, driving down prices.
“People are losing their purchasing power and the local market has undergone a huge shift due to the ban on animal export to Afghanistan,” Khan said.
Despite the bleak state of the cattle market, there are still some buyers who prefer only the most expensive and handsome animals to show off their wealth and status.
Karachi’s Sohail Memon is one such individual, a man of legendary spending habits in the cattle market who bought seven bulls this year for Rs 900,000 ($5,621).
Memon, a trader who runs a thriving business, later told Arab News that his neighbor had “won again” since he had a sturdier, taller animal tied up in his courtyard.
Some Karachi residents even have their own cattle farms outside the city where they raise cows and bull for years.
“We buy calves and raise them for three to four years until they reach this stage,” Usman Ghani, a resident of Burns Road Karachi told Arab News while he pointed towards three bulls his family would sacrifice on the first and second day of Eid in Pakistan.
“Their market price should be between Rs. 500,000 ($3,123) to Rs. 700,000 ($4,372). But we don’t want to sell them. These are our own animals and only for us to sacrifice,” he said.
Like Shah, Ghani said he had showered these animals with his love, care and attention for years.
“We gave them special feed, including milk, butter, desi ghee and mustard oil to keep them healthy, strong and oily,” he said and turned towards his music system to raise the volume of a qawwali, Sufi devotional music, to entertain the people who had gathered behind him to take selfies with his animals.
One of them, Hanif Memon from Kharadar, had brought his whole family along to take Eid photos with Ghani’s bulls.
“We can’t afford to spend a huge amount to buy such animals,” Hanif Memon said with a smile. “Instead I take my family to these places, so my children can take pictures with them and feel happy.”