Eid-ul-Azha is one of the biggest Islamic festivals, which is observed throughout the Muslim states. In Pakistan too, this festival is marked with great fervour and religious zeal every year. People of different walks of life get very enthusiastic about sacrificing the animals and performing the Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi. Unlike other Muslim states in Pakistan, the degree of excitement among people is high.
Raheel a 21-year-old young boy said, "Though we have purchased our sacrificial animal, yet whenever my friends and neighbours go for buying animals I go with them. I greatly enjoy myself on every trip. I also give them my opinion while choosing the animals, which is a speciality of Eid. My parents don't stop me either, as they know my overwhelming feelings that I become very excited, especially on these days and they let me enjoy with full gusto. Not only I, all friends and cousins are equally excited and energetic on the occasion and fully participate in the buying activities of others as well."
A seven-year-old girl Zara, and her 10 year old brother Jamshed were roaming around the locality with their sacrificial animal. To a question whether they feared animals, as the animals could harm them, Zara innocently replied, "We love them! How can they harm us? My brother and I get up early in the morning to feed our animals". "We enjoy this Eid more than Eid ul-Fitr," they added.
People of all ages, old, young and children enjoy this special activity of Eid-ul-Azha. Many more exciting moments can be observed everywhere around the country.
This year everyone is complaining about the surge of prices of the sacrificial animals, making out of them range of most people. But there are other issues, which need to be addressed effectively and are hardly discussed, such as maintaining sanitation and the allocation of places for the selling of sacrificial animals.
A supermarket, situated at the University Road, has set a good example by introducing a new trend of selling sacrificial animals in Karachi. A specific place within the premises has been allocated for selling sacrificial animals.
All animals are kept in a net fence. The place is well-managed and the animals are kept clean as well.
Riaz, a purchaser at the market, expressed his satisfaction over the idea and advised the government to adopt the idea of selling animals in well-controlled and planned areas.
In order to facilitate the residents and livestock traders the government should not allow the selling of sacrificial animals in unspecified areas. Just as authorities in the Capital and Rawalpindi areas have banned the selling of animals at markets inside the cities, the CDGK may have followed in their footsteps, but one can see that animals are still being sold all over the city. This creates noise and it becomes cumbersome to clear this mess later.
Another issue related to Eid-ul-Azha is the disposal of offal. This time it has been decided to dispose off offal 'scientifically'. Instead of being dumped at landfill sites, or in the open. That exercise has be well-co-ordinated as there are many civic agencies working in the city. The slaughtering of all animals, whether sacrificial or not, should be done in a complex outside the city as in Saudi Arabia to save the city from this menace, which haunts the citizens for many days.