KARACHI: Pakistanis thronging markets to buy sacrificial cows, camels and goats for the upcoming Eid Al-Adha complained about rising prices of the livestock this week.
Pakistan has been beset by inflation above 20 percent since May 2022. Last year in May, inflation jumped as high as 38 percent as the country navigated reforms as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program.
While inflation has since tapered, at the main cattle market in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, customers said they were still facing higher prices than last year.
“There is no impact of it (inflation slowing down). The prices are higher as compared to last year. The price of an animal that was up to 100,000 rupees ($358) last year is reaching 150,000 rupees ($537) this year,” said a customer, Mohammad Asif.
“It is the government’s claim that they have brought down the inflation whereas it is totally contrary to that here at the market. The prices are like three folds up as compared to last year,” said another buyer, Abdur-Rehman.
Trader Mohammad Chhuttal, who traveled some 540 km (336 miles) from the city of Ghotki to sell his cows and bulls in Karachi, said the impact of last year’s high inflation continued to be felt this year.
Traders said the inflation was hurting the purchasing power of ordinary consumers and noted that there were not only fewer customers in the market compared to last year, but that people would choose smaller animals.
Pakistan is in talks with IMF for a loan estimated to be anything between $6 billion to $8 billion to avert a default for an economy that is growing at the slowest pace in the region.
Pakistan narrowly averted a default last summer thanks to a short-term IMF bailout of $3 billion over nine months.
Muslims around the world celebrate the Eid holiday by slaughtering animals such as cattle and goats as they mark the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son on God’s command. The meat is shared among family and friends and donated to the poor.
The three-day festival of Eid Al-Adha, one of the two most important festivals on the Islamic calendar, will be celebrated from Monday (June 17) in Pakistan this year.
Pakistanis complain about high prices of sacrificial animals before Eid Al-Adha
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Pakistanis complain about high prices of sacrificial animals before Eid Al-Adha
- Muslims celebrate Eid by slaughtering cattle, goats and cow to mark the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son on God’s command
- The three-day festival, one of the two most important festivals on the Islamic calendar, will be celebrated in Pakistan from June 17 this year
Top Pakistani clerics warn government against sending troops to Gaza to disarm Hamas
- Pakistani clerics raise alarm over reports of pressure on Muslim nations to provide troops for Gaza stabilization force under Trump peace plan
- Islamabad has previously said that it is willing to join the international stabilization force but ‘not ready’ to play any role in disarming Hamas
ISLAMABAD: A group of Pakistan’s top religious and political leaders on Monday warned the government against sending Pakistani troops to Gaza to disarm Palestinian group Hamas, amid discussions over a proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) for the Palestinian territory.
The representative gathering, chaired by prominent scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, brought together leaders from Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadees and Shia schools of thought, alongside leaders of the country’s main religio-political parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
The international stabilization force, which is to be composed of troops from Muslim countries, is the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza announced in Sept. Islamabad has previously said it is willing to join the ISF but “not ready” to play any role in disarming Hamas. Hamas’s Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said this month the group had a “legitimate right” to hold weapons, while Israel has repeatedly insisted that Hamas be disarmed.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting in the port city of Karachi on Monday, Pakistani clerics raised alarm over reports that international pressure is mounting on Muslim-majority nations to provide troops for the transitional security force in Gaza, following Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
“In such circumstances, demands are being made to Muslim countries that they send their forces there to disarm Hamas,” the statement said. “Several Muslim governments have already refused this, and pressure is being increased on Pakistan.”
Last month, the United Nations Security Council approved Washington’s plan, which called for a yet-to-be-established Board of Peace as a transitional authority that Trump would head, and the stabilization force, which would be empowered to oversee borders, provide security and demilitarize the territory.
The gathering of Pakistani clerics urged Islamabad to resist any diplomatic overtures from Washington regarding troop deployment.
“This gathering, with full emphasis, demands the Government of Pakistan refrain from sending its forces to disarm Hamas and that it should not yield to any pressure in this regard,” the statement said.
The assembly expressed complete support for the liberation of Palestine and described the effort as a “duty of every Muslim.”
It said that Pakistan’s armed forces are “imbued with the spirit of jihad” and that the “notion of placing them against any sacred struggle for the liberation of Baitul Muqaddas or Palestine is impossible for the nation to accept.”
The religious leaders characterized the proposal as a “conspiracy” from which the government must “protect the country.”
Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi and the prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, did not respond to Arab News requests for comment on the statement.
Washington reportedly views Pakistan as a prime candidate for the ISF, given its experience in high-intensity border conflicts and internal counter-insurgency operations.
Last week, Pakistan’s foreign office said that Islamabad had not taken any decision on joining the proposed stabilization force for Gaza and had received no formal request from the US or any other country in this regard.
“I am not aware of any specific request made to Pakistan. We will inform you about any development if it takes place,” Andrabi told reporters.
He also sought to distance the government from rumors of a pending visit by Pakistan’s defense forces chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to the US to meet President Trump.
