ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of the alleged sale of dead animal meat, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to establish a slaughterhouse in the city.

After the direction, it is expected that the longstanding issue between the CDA and the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) over allocation of funds for the slaughterhouse would come to an end.

During a meeting of the committee on Thursday, its chairman Rehman Malik said he had learnt that dead chicken and animals were being sold in Islamabad just because there was no slaughterhouse.

“I direct that strict action should be taken against persons involved in it,” he said.

The capital lacks a slaughterhouse due to which meat is brought from outside and it cannot be ascertained whether the meat is of dead animals or not.

The committee was informed by the district administration that the MCI had to establish the slaughterhouse but it was delayed because of unknown reasons.

Mr Malik directed CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed to establish a slaughterhouse in the capital.

Mr Ahmed later told Dawn that a number of times the site for the slaughterhouse was changed and finally it was decided that the abattoir would be established by the MCI.

“But the MCI could not establish the slaughterhouse due to lack of funds. The CDA would establish the slaughterhouse if it gets written direction from the parliamentary committee. In fact, the CDA had prepared PC-I and a site for the project was also selected a number of times. We will again approve the PC-I and establish the slaughterhouse,” he said.

Condition of CNIC for shopping

Taking up the imposition of a condition of producing Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) on purchases over Rs50,000, the chairman of the committee directed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chief be summoned to the next meeting to discuss details.

“It is unfair to demand CNICs from women as they are considered respectable in our society. Moreover, CNICs of women can be misused. So I suggest that it would be better to note their addresses rather than asking for their CNICs,” he said.

The committee recommended that the limit of purchase be increased from Rs50,000 to Rs300,000 and there should be relaxation for women in providing their CNICs.

However, the committee was informed by the revenue department that women while shopping worth over Rs50,000 could use CNICs of their male family members.

Unanimous resolution on Kashmir

The committee unanimously passed a resolution condemning India’s illegal move of altering the disputed status of the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

Mr Malik said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s actions against unarmed people of occupied Kashmir were tantamount to “war crimes”.

Therefore, he urged the government of Pakistan to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Narendra Modi for crimes against humanity. He said Indian forces had already crossed all limits of humanity by violating human rights in held Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2019