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| Cattle for Muslim festival of sacrifice |
MALEGAON, India (AA) –
Rafique Ansari, a 38-year-old small-time textile trader, is not a happy man.
For the past four
years, he has worked as a seasonal cattle trader for one month before the Eid
al-Adha, a Muslim religious feast that marks the climax of the annual Hajj
pilgrimage.
This year, however,
it's been especially hard for him to sustain his small business.
"Local police have
seized four bulls, along with the transportation vehicle I hired," Ansari
told Anadolu Agency in Malegaon, a Muslim-majority textile town some 300km
north of Mumbai.
He added that police
had accused him of flouting cattle-protection regulations.
As a rule, Indian
cattle traders must fulfill three criteria for buying cattle for sacrifice.
They must procure a receipt from a government-approved cattle agency, a medical
certificate stating the cattle is unfit for farming, and a vehicle license for
transporting the cattle.
Ansari
bought his four bulls from a Hindu farmer in Zahirabad, a municipality in the
Medak district of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
He
failed, however, to produce the receipt or the medical certificate.
"Since
I bought the cattle from an individual it was difficult to produce the required
documents," Ansari explained.
The
farmer, he said, had not been willing to go through the "painful" and
"lengthy" bureaucratic procedures required to obtain the needed
documents.
"The
farmer sold me the cattle at a discount," admitted an embarrassed Ansari.
"Now I'm paying the price of that discount."
Malegaon
has a population of about 700,000, of which at least 70 percent are Muslim.
So
far this year, police have seized at least 150 bulls and 22 vehicles for
allegedly transporting the cattle illegally.
The
estimated combined worth of the seized cattle and vehicles stands at close to 5
million rupees (roughly $84,000).
The
seized cattle have been kept at the premises of the local Gao Raksha Samiti
(Cow Protection Organization), a right-wing Hindu organization devoted to cow
protection.
A
trader, wishing not to be named, questioned the choice of the venue for the
impounded cattle.
"The
Gao Raksha Samiti is an extended arm of the police," he fumed.
According
to a top police official, however, the arrangement is only temporary.
"Malegaon
Corporation does not have any such facility, so we are forced to keep the
cattle there," he told AA, requesting anonymity.
Religious
Hindus, for whom cows are sacred, are opposed to the slaughter of the animals.
There
is no federal law forbidding cow-slaughter in India, but most Indian states
have state laws prohibiting the practice.
Political
commentator Mustafa Khan questioned the rationale behind rules that only
not-so-healthy cattle could be sacrificed for Eid al-Adha.
"I
am personally of the opinion that only healthy bulls should be sacrificed on
Eid, as Islam commands," he told AA.
-Greasing
palms-
Dozens
of Indian Muslims have been lured by the potential profits to be made from
seasonal cattle trading.
Irfan
Shaikh, a small-time businessman who deals in sweets, has been in the seasonal
cattle trading business for a decade.
To
avoid any inconvenience, Shaikh always buys his cattle in advance.
"Every
year, the police step up the vigil, so it's always wise to buy at least two
months in advance," he told AA.
When
asked whether this meant he was not fulfilling the government's criteria for
purchasing cattle, he answered with a smile.
"Law-enforcement
agencies only check the documents during this season," he replied.
Shaikh
is a free market advocate, believing that no one should intervene in business
between two private individuals.
"The
agencies should enforce the rules throughout the year if they really care for
the law," he argued.
Unlike
seasonal cattle traders, professional cattle traders know how to survive in
this cutthroat business.
Mustaqeem
Khan, a former butcher, now works as a fulltime cattle trader.
According
to Khan, one must build a network extending from the point of purchase to the
point of sale.
"It's
a matter of good networking and a little knowledge of geography," he told
AA.
The
distance between Zahirabad and Malegaon is at least 600km.
Khan
claims there is rampant corruption in the cattle trade; that it is almost
impossible to transport cattle without "greasing the palms" of
law-enforcement agencies.
"At
every check-post, one has to loosen the purse strings to avoid any
trouble," he said.
Khan
said that such corruption usually spikes during the Eid al-Adha.
"With
so much demand for healthy bulls and limited supply during the season,
corruption is bound to rise," he explained.
The
senior police official, for his part, denied the allegation.
"We
are very actively cooperating with cattle traders to make sure that Eid passes
smoothly," he told AA. "Don't you see the number of bulls being
brought to Malegaon?"
Prices
for the sacrificial animals have risen sharply with the recent police seizures.
A mid-sized bull, for example, is currently priced at 24,000 rupees (roughly
$400).
Cattle
traders, meanwhile, are capitalizing on the price hike to realize quick
profits.
Ansari,
whose four seized bulls will be released after Eid, expects to incur major
losses this year.
"There
is no other option but to face the loss this year," he lamented.
"Next year, I will be careful about the required documents."
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