KARACHI, Sept 8: Despite conducting multiple inquiries into the chain of events that led to the culling of thousands of sheep almost a year ago, the government is yet to take action against those who violated the country’s quarantine laws and mishandled the situation caused by conflicting lab reports.

According to sources, the episode not only strained trade ties between Pakistan and Australia, but also undermined the credibility of Pakistan over veterinary matters.

The inquiries into the import of Australian sheep, sources say, were conducted by the federal and provincial governments as well as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). None of the reports have yet been made public by the government.

Sources also question the role played by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, which, sources say, falsely stated in the health certificate that it provided to the exporter to meet Pakistan’s import requirements.

The certificate states: “The animals were authorised to depart from La Bergerie Pre-Export Quarantine and Assembly Depot, Australia to Pakistan from the date of embarkation.” (The document gives an impression of direct import and makes no mention of Bahrain for which the consignment was originally destined for).

The Australian stance is repeated in a recently released report by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) titled ‘Report into a Wellard Rural Exports consignment of sheep exported to Pakistan’ which says, “DAFF issued an Australian Health Certificate in accordance with Pakistan’s import requirements.”

According to the report, the handling and slaughter of the sheep shown in the publicly released video footage was not compliant with OIE- The World Organisation of Animal Health animal welfare recommendations. “Wellard complied with the conditions of the NOI (Notice of Intention), CRMP (Consignment Risk Management Plan) and ESCAS (Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System) approvals except when risks to personal safety or intervention by Pakistan authorities prevented Wellard from doing so.” It further says, “Intervention by the Pakistan authorities and accompanying armed police was beyond the control of Wellard and could not have been avoided through the exercise of all due care.”

Commenting on the report, Dr Alamdar Hussain Malik, former registrar of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council and ex-deputy secretary of defunct ministry of livestock, fisheries and dairy development, says: “The report smartly shifts the entire responsibility of culling of thousands of sheep to the Pakistani authorities, thus clearing the exporter from all lapses. The information given in the Australian health certificate doesn’t match with ground realities.”

The Pakistani importer (P.K. Livestock and Meat Company), Dr Hussain says, concealed facts from the Pakistani authorities at the time of obtaining an NOC for sheep import as the importer stated in its letter to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research that animals were to be imported (directly) from Australia, which was not the case.

“However, in its statement to the Sindh High Court that later took up the case, the importer states that the sheep were originally destined for Qatar, Oman and Bahrain and a dispute at the port forced the Australian exporter to approach him,” Dr Hussain explains, adding that all these evidences existed in writing and it was strange that the government was not taking action against anyone.

It is also surprising to note that the then Animal Husbandry Commissioner in his letter dated Sept 16, 2012 appreciated the efforts of Sindh government in diagnosing the disease and agreed to the provincial government’s suggestion of animal culling, though the National Veterinary Laboratory Islamabad (headed by Animal Husbandry Commissioner himself at that time) had earlier cleared the animals’ of the disease stated in a report dated Sept 10.

“If he had ordered a comprehensive joint investigation by provincial and federal government experts at the time of receiving conflicting lab reports, Pakistan could have been saved from a lot of embarrassment internationally that it had to face later,” Dr Hussain says.

The NOC for sheep import, he says, seemed have been issued hastily as it was processed by a non-gazetted officer in the absence of necessary documents and its’ copies were also not marked to relevant departments, a standard procedure in government departments.

Dawn attempted to get in touch with government officials for their version but no official was available for comments.

Case history

It might be recalled that about 22,000 (the number is 20,468 in Pakistani documents) Australian sheep, originally meant for Bahrain, arrived on Sept 4 last year in Karachi. Though a federal government lab found the animals healthy, the provincial government laboratories reported the sheep diseased. Subsequently, culling was initiated, which was stopped on the court’s intervention.

However, by that time, more than 7,000 had been slaughtered. About 1,500 sheep were found missing in the counting process, whereas five were found dead. Samples were sent to a UK lab on court orders as well as to a federal lab which found no disease in samples. However, the sheep importer P.K. Livestock and Meat Company on Oct 18 withdrew its petition against the culling leading to the culling of the remaining herd.

Under Pakistani quarantine laws, a livestock shipment has to be imported directly from a country and there is no provision for accepting a consignment which, for some reasons, is not taken by another country. The sheep consignment was not destined for Pakistan but Bahrain where it was not allowed to be off-loaded when some animals were found infected with scabby mouth disease. However, the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued to the importer was for a direct import from Australia.

According to the Pakistan Animal Quarantine (import and export of animals and animal products) Rules, 1980, every animal imported into Pakistan shall be accompanied by a health certificate issued by an authorised veterinary officer of the country from where such animal is imported.

The quarantine official, according to rules, needs to be informed, among other things, about the occurrence of any infectious/contagious disease in the animals during transit, the places at which the vessel, aircraft or vehicle, as the case may be, made stopovers. However, this was not done in this particular case.

The permission for import was granted to the importer on Aug 24. The arrival of imported livestock shipment, experts say, when is made directly from a country, normally takes at least a month. However, in this case, the shipment arrived within 12 days and 22,000 animals were inspected by two officials.

A copy of the release order dated Sept 4 states that the sheep were being provisionally released to the Animal Quarantine House, National Highway, and shall be subjected to tests/examination as per provisions of the Pakistan Animal Quarantine Act, 1979 and Rules, 1980. However, the animals were shifted to the P.K. Livestock and Meat Company premises where facilities were available for animal-keeping, slaughtering and meat processing.

Responding to Dawn’s queries last year about the “false statement” in the health certificate, a DAFF spokesperson had said: “The sheep exported to Pakistan were certified by the Australian government and a certificate was issued based on the Pakistan’s import animal health requirements.

“The Pakistan animal health requirements were verified with Pakistan officials before Australia issued the animal health certificate. The ship carrying the sheep to Pakistan also delivered sheep to Muscat, Oman and Doha, Qatar where they were unloaded and no issues of animal health were reported.

“Animal health was monitored by a DAFF-accredited veterinarian onboard the vessel. The animals were inspected by Pakistan veterinary health officials on arrival confirming the meeting of Pakistan import requirements.”

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