The black sheep is white

The suicide-bombers, target-killers, kidnappers-for-ransom, letter-bearing extortionists, murderers and others of that ilk are indeed the staple diet of media and regular public discourse. We take notice of them ever more concerned and expect the law-enforcement outfits to pursue them to the gates of hell. But what colossal harm the hidden, unnoticed and un-acted-against enemies inflict upon the life of common man in Pakistan we have quite scant idea and hardly take any notice.
The reports about food adulteration, water contamination, spurious drugs and unhygienic eateries generally fail to make to the outer pages of newspapers; what to talk of these issues being the peg for the popular TV talk shows and political platforms. Consider the damage to public health if these 22,000 infected sheep from Australia now being culled had been slaughtered and their meat sold in the market. At the least a million people would have eaten the contaminated meat in the next few weeks - each one thus exposed to a variety of deadly virus. Not only this, the sheep also suffered from exotic virus parapox which is not found in Pakistan, nor is there any facility in the country that can detect this disease. Thank God, after initial hesitation the local authorities moved in and the culling of the infected sheep began.
How many infected white sheep were imported earlier and fed to the people, we have no information. This area of black trade is active and flourishing, and needs to be thoroughly investigated. Surely not one trader or one official is involved in this nasty business. There must be a whole mafia at work to import diseased animals and sell their meat in the market. Though import of thousands of infected sheep may be a big story, it's merely the tip of the iceberg of the enormous trade of sick animals, expired food items and spurious drugs and toiletries. Printing fake labels of famous brands and altering the best-before dates on medicines and food items are those unscrupulous traits that have now translated themselves into an art form in Pakistan. Likewise, nobody really cares how unhygienic food, contaminated water and soft-drinks and fake energy drinks and pills so easily enter the market. No wonder then incidence of illness owing to contaminated food, drinks and substandard medicines is of the highest in the world. Why it's so easy to import or manufacture spurious drugs and run unhygienic eateries with total impunity? The authorities, therefore, are required to revisit their charter in relation to responsibilities. In the absence of overt and covert connivance of concerned departments and their staff this anti-human business would not have survived and flourished. Recall how when the entire world refused to buy the radiation-contaminated milk which had arrived in Singapore in 1988 following the Chernobyl disaster, could find its way to Pakistan.
This highly alarming incident underscores the need for a thorough investigation to identify the importer of infected sheep and determine the circumstances under which the diseased livestock was unloaded at Port Qasim. Bahrain, the intended destination for the sick sheep, had refused to accept the cargo and it was said to be on way back to Australia. Certainly some sharks in this illegal business must have learnt of it and decided to make the easy buck - which of course was not possible. Then there is the crass neglect on the part of the quarantine department, run by the federal government, which allowed the sheep to be released without examining their health. But for the lab tests the infected meat was on way to your dining table. This is certainly exceptional that the culprits stand fully exposed with irrefutable evidence. There is no reason why it shouldn't be made a test case and the suspects are brought to justice. Of course that's not the norm in Pakistan; scores of investigations against the merchants of death have led us nowhere. But not anymore, thanks to the poor white sheep, the black sheep too got exposed, and they should meet the same fate metaphorically - culling by the sword and buried deep.