KARACHI: A dramatic fall of almost 80 percent in the value of sacrificial animal hides during a rainy Eid Al-Adha in Pakistan has strained the finances of the country’s religious and community welfare organizations, and taken away a huge chunk of raw material for the country’s leather industry, traders and analysts said.
Nearly 10 million animals worth an estimated $3 billion were sacrificed on the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha in 2017. That figure declined to 8.1 million animals last year with their hides and skins worth $32 million according to data shared by the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA).
This year however, Eid skins and hides were valued at $8 million. There were 6.6 million animals sacrificed, at a total value of $1.33 billion.
“Last year, tanneries collected hides and skins worth Rs. 5.2 billion ($32 million) but now, purchases worth Rs. 1.31 billion ($8.2 million) have been made... a decline of 75 percent,” Agha Saidain, Chairman of PTA told Arab News, and added that the decline was “mainly due to rains.”
On the back of record levels of inflation, and a currency devaluation that has seen Pakistan’s rupee losing more than 45 percent of its value against the dollar since last year, this year’s Eid Al-Adha landed in the thick of the monsoon season, with heavy rainfall and flooding affecting tanners’ reluctance to buy the hides which are easily destroyed by water.
Apart from providing almost 30 percent of raw material for Pakistan’s leather industry, the multi-million dollar exchange of hides and skins was the primary contributor to the running of the country’s tens of thousands of religious seminaries, including those that were fronts for banned militant outfits.
After the animal sacrifice, it is customary in Pakistan for people to donate the skins of the animals to religious and welfare organizations, which would in turn sell them to tanners for a profit.
“The hides and skins provided four to five months of financial resources to the madaris,” Nazir Nasir, spokesperson of Jamia Binoria, a Karachi-based Islamic educational institute, told Arab News, and added that the price decline had caused “trouble” for religious institutions.
“But these are temporary phenomena,” he said, “Because the madaris never counted only on this source of revenue.”
This year, members of religious institutions reported that most of the hides and skins they collected in donations were eventually destroyed by rains, as traders simply refused to buy.
“Last year, we fetched Rs. 1,600 to 2,000 on (a single) cow hide, but this year the situation is worse as large quantities of skins are being wasted,” Qazi Sadruddin, director of community services at Al Khidmat, a welfare organization running charity hospitals and orphanages, told Arab News.
This year, there is also added pressure on the money exchanged from the buying and selling of hides and skins, as the country gears up for its next review in October from Paris-based terror financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force amid fears it could be blacklisted and heavily sanctioned if its money trails unwittingly end up in the wrong hands.
When business was booming, Eid Al-Adha generated an extraordinary cash windfall for thinly concealed fronts for outlawed and militant outfits in the country, like the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s charity wing, the Falah-e-Insaniyat, whose head Hafiz Saeed had a $10 million US bounty on his head and was arrested by the Pakistan government in July this year.
“The banned outfits now do not rely on hides and skins business as they have expanded their outreach to other avenues like properties etc.,” Rustam Shah Mohmand, a senior security and political analyst, told Arab News.
In sporadic incidents around the country, there were reports of arrests made by police during the transporting of hides and skins, but by and large, tannery owners said the lack of buying interest was triggered by humid and hot weather conditions.
“Tanners are not ready to waste expensive chemicals (on compromised hides) due to heavy taxation,” PTA Chairman Agha Saidain said.
Pakistan’s leather products’ exports declined by 11 percent to $843 million in fiscal year 2019 from $948 million, Pakistan Bureau of Statistic data shows.
Tanners and leather goods exporters say that artificial leather, or polyurethane, from China has not only dented exports but also suppressed the demand of real leather in the international market, with China, India and Bangladesh investing heavily in technology to capture a major share of the $120 billion global leather market.
“30 to 35 percent of our hides and skins are wasted every year due to lack of modern technology and skills to preserve these products,” Syed Shujaat Ali, Chairman of the Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Arab News.
“In Saudi Arabia they have modern technology available that enables them to preserve the skins and hides on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha,” he added and called for greater research and development of the leather export sector, if the industry was to stay afloat.
Rainy Eid in Pakistan prompts 80 percent fall in value of sacrificial animal hides
Rainy Eid in Pakistan prompts 80 percent fall in value of sacrificial animal hides
- Tanners were reluctant to buy skins and hides, easily destroyed by water, in the thick of monsoon rains
- Resulting strain on finances of religious seminaries, and welfare organisations, including fronts for militant groups
Pakistan says military operation concluded in Balochistan, 216 militants killed
- Separatist BLA militant group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks across Balochistan last week
- Military says 36 civilians, 22 law enforcement and security forces personnel have been killed in attacks
PESHAWAR: Pakistani forces have concluded a security operation in the southwestern Balochistan province and killed 216 militants after a series of coordinated attacks by separatist militants last week, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.
Separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Balochistan last Friday and Saturday in multiple districts across the province, one of the deadliest flare-ups in the area in recent years.
Pakistan military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said security forces launched operations in Panjgur and Harnai district’s outskirts on Jan. 29 based on intelligence confirming the presence of “terrorist elements,” killing 41 militants.
It said the military launched a broader series of intelligence-based operations in multiple areas of the province after that to dismantle “terrorist sleeper cells,” referring to it as “Operation Radd-ul-Fitna-1.”
“As a result of these well-coordinated engagements and subsequent clearance operations, 216 terrorists have been sent to hell, significantly degrading the leadership, command-and-control structures and operational capabilities of terrorist networks,” the ISPR said in a statement.
The military said 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed by militants while 22 security forces and law enforcement personnel also lost their lives.
The ISPR said a substantial cache of foreign-origin weapons, ammunition, explosives and equipment were also recovered during the counteroffensive operations.
“Preliminary analysis indicates systematic external facilitation and logistical support to these extremist proxies,” the statement said.
The military said Pakistan’s armed forces remain steadfast in their resolve to combat “terrorism,” vowing that counterterror operations will continue until militants are completely eliminated.
“Operation Radd-ul-Fitna-1 stands as a testament to Pakistan’s and particularly Balochistan’s proud peoples’ unwavering commitment to always prefer peace over violence, unity over division and development over violence,” the ISPR said.
Pakistan’s government has accused India of being behind the militant attacks in Balochistan, charges that New Delhi has rejected as “baseless.”
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area, has long faced a separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years. Militants frequently target security forces, government officials, infrastructure projects, foreigners and non-local workers.
The province holds vast reserves of minerals and hydrocarbons and is central to the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Separatist groups such as the BLA accuse Islamabad of exploiting Balochistan’s natural resources while denying locals a fair share. Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership reject the claim and say they are investing in the province’s development.
