Refused to accept more orders, Adnan Khan, a pro-fessional butcher of Hastnagri bazar was optimistic to earn maximum profit after receiving 50 booking of slaughtering sacrificial animals during Eidul Azha.
Engaged three seasonal butchers to meet the placed orders, the 25-year old butcher, who was sharpening his daggers and axes at Firdus market on Saturday told APP that he had received 50 orders of slaughtering sacrificial animals including cows, oxen buffaloes, goats, sheeps and camels on three days of Eidul Azha.
“Slaughtering of animals is an art. The butchers know where the slaughtered animals could be cut into pieces instead of makeshifts butchers or ordi-nary people, “ said Adnan, who inherited this hard earned profession from his grandfather. “My grand-father has started this profession before independ-ence of Pakistan and now our third generation was carrying forward his legacy despite ups and downs in his business,” he said. He said rates of slaughter-ing of animals was based on day and time, adding on the first day Rs 4000 to Rs5,000 were being charged for slaughtering a goat or sheep between 8:00a.m to 11:50a.m with additional Rs600 for mak-ing meat on the first day of Eid.
Likewise, rate of slaughtering of cow and buffaloe was fixed at Rs10,000 to Rs12,000 per animal on Eid’s morning. Rs15,000 to Rs 20,000 was being charged for slaughtering of camel and Rs7000 to Rs8000 for ox with additional Rs2,500 for making meat. He said the butchers charge hefty amounts due to their professional work as there were many seasonal butchers, who know nothing about slaugh-tering and take more time than the professionals during the sizzling heat.
The seasonal butchers lack proper tactics to bring down animals to the grounds, slaughtering tech-niques and are also unable to cut the meat properly. These inept butchers also end up damaging hides of the sacrificial animals besides exposed citizens to injuries. Because of exorbitant rates of professional butchers and high profit rates, the butchers of others districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have arrived to Peshawar to buck maximum gains. Besides seasonal butchers, the unemployed labourers and youngsters of merged and settled districts of KP have also rushed to Peshawar to earn maximum profit.
“I came from Nowshera district to Peshawar follow-ing high demand of butchers and profit rate of sacri-ficial animals here,” said Zardali Khan, a non-professional butcher while talking to APP. He said most of people were hiring nonprofesional butchers due to low profit rate compare to professionals butchers keeping in view of their financial status. Zardali said he came from village Dheri Ishaq Pabbi where most of people slaughter animals themselves after performing collective Qurbani.
‘Ten orders of animals’ slaughtering was received by me on this Eid at Rs5,000 per cow as well as buffa-loe and Rs2,000 per goat or sheep. Following cases of lumpy skin disease in animals, he said most of educated people prefer to hire butchers to avoid exposer to the fatal infection. Qaiser Khan, a resi-dent of Wapda Town Peshawar said that it has be-come immense difficult to buy animal to perform sacrifice ritual due to the prevailing inflation and price hike in the country and we have to roam around the outskirts of the city to find animal on affordable rate.
