ISLAMABAD: With Eid-ul-Azha fast approaching, a new trend of cost-sharing sacrificial animals has been gaining momentum in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Citizens while talking to APP said that the rising prices of sacrificial animals have made it hard for them to afford to sacrifice animals on their own and many joint families have decided to 'cost-share' sacrificial cows.
"We can afford to sacrifice a cow rather than a small goat, which is all we would be able to afford if we were doing this individually," said a resident Salman Ali.
He said that the prices of sacrificial animals were much higher than last year's prices.
Several religious groups and NGOs have also announced packages of cost-sharing sacrificial animals ahead of Eidul Azha, saying that these packages had been offered for the benefit to those who could not afford sacrificial animals without their assistance.
However, locals have expressed their reluctance to participate in cost sharing schemes initiated by religious groups or NGOs, saying that these groups usually fleeced customers and the animals that they sacrificed were of poor quality and were much cheaper than the rates they charged.
"I tried this last year and cost shared a cow under an NGO scheme, the animals they gave from their own families were healthy and yet the ones they sacrificed from our money were sick and much cheaper even though we were charged the full amount," said Asim Raza, a resident adding that the cost sharing scheme had led to many disputes between the people who were sharing the animals.
"There were issues regarding who would distribute the meat and who would get to choose the animals," he said, adding that several fights had already broken out among people cost sharing animals this year.
A most religious organisations have offered a cost-sharing package for cows at Rs5,000 to 8,000 per share including the payment for butchers.
Most daily wage earners said that despite issues with trusting someone else to find and purchase the animals, these packages were the only way they could afford sacrificial animals this year.
"Most people want to give cow meat this year by sharing the cost rather than spending nearly the same amount on a goat given the sky-rocketing prices," said Ameen Hassan, a salesman at the local 'bakra mandi'.
On the other hand, traders have set up their markets on grounds located in congested residential and commercial areas.
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