Battle of hides: MQM wins,Edhi foundation loses

[Safriz]

Hide collection: Edhi loses out in a game marred by threats and
deaths By Rabia Ali Published: November 4, 2012 In 2011, the Edhi Foundation collected 7,000 goat hides and around
1,132 cow hides on Eidul Azha. This year, however, the number of goat
hides collected was 4,111 and cow hides only 630, according to the
foundation’s spokesperson, Anwar Kazmi. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVED/
FILE KARACHI: Whether it’s the intimidating tactics adopted by political and
religious outfits or the dying charitable spirit of citizens, the
donation of sacrificial animal hides to the country’s largest
charitable organisation, the Edhi Foundation, plunged by almost
40% this year in Karachi and Hyderabad. With approximately 16 million animals slaughtered every year on
Eidul Azha across the country, the collection of animal hides is an
enormous business – and an extremely profitable one too. Going by
the numbers put up by the leather industry, a cow hide easily fetches
between Rs2,000 and Rs3,500 while goatskins range between Rs200
and Rs350. Over the years, many charitable organisations and political and
religious parties have joined the race to collect more and more hides
during the three days of Eid, advertently leading to clashes – many
fatal – among rival activists. In 2011, the Edhi Foundation collected 7,000 goat hides and around
1,132 cow hides on Eidul Azha. This year, however, the number of goat
hides collected was 4,111 and cow hides only 630, according to the
foundation’s spokesperson, Anwar Kazmi. This reduction comes in the
wake of many political parties claiming a record number of animal
hides “received” this year. But the Edhi worker disagrees with them. “People called us saying they wanted to donate to us, but death
threats and parchis [extortion slips] have forced them to give away the
hides to other organisations,” Kazmi said, referring to snatchings or
house-to-house collection of animal skins by activists. Without naming any party, he alleged that “welfare wings” of political
parties and banned outfits were collecting hides at gunpoint or
distributing slips, telling people to give them the hides. “In Hyderabad,
Edhi vans were stopped by political activists from entering Latifabad.
The drivers were told to turn away and not collect hides,” Kazmi
claimed. Since Edhi organisation’s formation in the 1950s, it has been actively collecting hides for the sake of charity and the people trust the
foundation, he added. Denials The leader of the Peoples Amn Committee, Zafar Baloch, denied that his
party or its charity wing was involved in underhand dealings. “We are
being accused but everyone knows that it is our rivals who snatch
hides,” he said, adding that it was not his party but a non-
governmental organisation, the Lyari Resource Centre, which collected
animal hides in Lyari. Hasan Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Al
Khidmat Foundation, concurred that non-governmental organisations
received fewer hides as did seminaries. He blamed another political
party of collecting them by force. He claimed that his party had seen a
40% rise in hide donations across the country. On behalf of the
Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Wasay Jalil said that other organisations were making excuses by
blaming political parties for the decline in their own collection
campaigns. “Even in the Punjab, we broke records this year.” “Anyone who collects hides genuinely should not be stopped.” Neither
the Al Khidmat Foundation nor the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation were
willing to share figure of how many hides they had collected this year. Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2012.

 

[truthseer]

Like I said before, I had to beg KKF for three days to collect hides. Don't be jealous that we give it to MQM and not Eidhi. MQM does a good job with it!