Super Highway cattle market attracts big crowd

As the city is gearing up to celebrate Eidul-Azha Wednesday, the main cattle market on Superhighway is witnessing rise in sell of sacrificial animals, mostly goats and sheep due to visits by large numbers of customers. People prefer buying these two animals as compared to bulls or camels, according to the vendors who shared details of trends of sale in the city during the past 10 days.
Trucks and dumpers carrying mostly heifer, cows, sheep and goats are seen unloading sacrificial animals at the cattle market. As per vendors, the starting price of a goat is Rs 25,000 and it even crosses Rs 40,000 depending upon the size and breed. They say this year availability and sale of goats and sheep are much higher than sale of cow.
The buying of the sacrificial animals has gained momentum and more and more people are visiting the cattle market to return homes with animals of their choice. However, the sellers want to sell the animals at the prices of their choice. The middle class people cannot afford to buy animals at the skyrocketing prices.
According to Eid-ul-Azha rituals, large animals such as cow for sacrifice must be shared by seven people while a goat or a sheep is for just one individual. As a matter of fact, exorbitant prices of sacrificial animals and continuously declining purchasing power, people of middle and lower income group make group of seven to buy a cow. The price is divided into seven equal shares. They pay their share and it is the easiest way for them to perform sacred sacrifice of in commemoration of the sacrifice of the great prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (PBUH).
Several religious groups and mosques have announced packages of collective sacrifice ranging from Rs 9,500 to Rs 15,500 for each share depending on the kind of and cost of sacrificial animals. Collective sacrifices also save them the cost of slaughter to be paid to butchers and also their time that is otherwise spent in distributing meat among the deserving people, as the mosques or charity organizations take this responsibility.
In the wake of the soaring prices of animals, Karachiites have tended to follow that suit during the last few years. But this year, those whose financial position has been improved, choose individual sacrifice. On the other hand, a very large number of temporary roadside sacrificial animal markets have also been popped up in the city. Parks and sports grounds in many residential areas are also being used for sacrificial animals' trade.