KARACHI: Muhammad Shoaib’s life turned upside down earlier this month when he brought home three cows from the local animal market ahead of the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
Since then, he has built an extra fence and often stays up nights guarding the sacrificial animals himself.
Shoaib’s predicament is common in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial hub and largest city, grappling with surging crime rates. At least 73 people have been killed in street violence in Karachi this year, according to media tallies, with 29,500 incidents of vehicle and mobile snatchings reported between Feb. and May.
The spike in crime has cast a dark shadow over the festive season.
“We used to just tie the animal and leave it,” Shoaib told Arab News as he fed one of his cows. “But now you can’t leave it unattended.”
A cow in his neighborhood had been stolen during the daytime, he said:
“When such things are happening during the day, how can one leave the animal unattended?”
And going to cattle markets was also not without risk, as many incidents had been reported of aimals being snatched at gunpoint soon after a sale.
“The mandi [market] situation is such that it’s scary to go there now,” Shoaib said. “There’s always the fear of security, one is scared because you are taking money with you as well. At the very least, they [the authorities] should provide security in such situations.”
“ENSURE YOUR OWN SAFETY”
Last week, Inspector General of Sindh Police Ghulam Nabi Memon issued directives to secure cattle markets and all the roads leading to them. But when asked for details of the security plan, Karachi Police could not share specific security measures being taken.
Citizens meanwhile said they did not feel secure.
“You should ensure your own safety because neither the government nor the law is supporting you,” Muhammad Faisal, an employee of a private firm, said, advising people to carry their own weapons.
“So if you can ensure your own safety, you can go to the cattle market, whether in a group of four or eight. But you should have your own weapon with you and then go to the cattle market, then you will have no issue.”
Khaizer Muhammad Sohail, a student whose family usually buys animals days before Eid, said they had delayed their purchase this year due to security fears.
“The [main cattle] market is also quite far and we are also hearing that on the way there are robberies happening,” he said.
Trader Muhammad Shaheer said he had no choice but to hire private guards to ensure the safety of his sacrificial animals.
“These days, street crimes and snatchings have increased so much that one has to consider, ‘I’m buying an animal worth Rs200,000-400,000 ($710-$1,420) so how can I just leave it like that?” he said.
“So, then a person will deploy guards … It’s such a large sum of money, and then it’s also being sacrificed in the way of Allah, and it will be taken away [ by robbers] within a moment. If they took our animals too, then where will we go?”
