Culling of infected Australian sheep resumes

KARACHI: After the importer of the Australian sheep withdrew his case against the culling of over 21,000 animals at his farm on Thursday, the process of disposing off the infected sheep has resumed Friday, Geo News reported.

The importer, Tariq Mehmood Butt, had earlier sought a stay order from the Sindh High Court (SHC) against the culling of the livestock. He had challenged the report of the Sindh Poultry Vaccine Centre, which was the basis on which authorities ordered the culling of his sheep.

Under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Malir’s staff, the process of slaughtering the sheep is underway while 200 security men of Razzakabad Polcie Traning Center have been deployed for security purpose.

Sources told that 11,306 the diseased sheep will be disposed off after slaughtering.

Earlier, the petitioner who purchased a consignment of 21,000 Australian sheep that had been rejected by the Bahrain government in August, contended that the animals were healthy and he prayed that the court restrain government functionaries from harassing or arresting him in the case. Around 8,000 sheep had already been culled by the time the SHC intervened.

The government confirmed through the Pakistani Embassy in Bahrain that the kingdom had rejected the consignment of livestock after Orf disease was detected in the animals.

The petitioner counsel, Adnan Memon, in a surprising move, submitted before the SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, that his client had asked him to withdraw the case without mentioning any specific reasons.

When asked if there was any form of a threat from the authorities, the lawyer simply replied that he was given clear instructions from the petitioner to withdraw the case. Neither the counsels of the Australian exporter nor the federal and provincial governments opposed the application.

The court, after taking the statement of the petitioner’s counsel on record, dismissed the case along with the listed application. However, it directed the provincial government, IG Sindh, DG Rangers and the chief secretary to ensure that no harm was caused to Tariq Mehmood Butt and that the petitioner, along with his family, were provided with adequate security.

Although an internationally acclaimed laboratory did not find the presence of antibodies to Bluetongue, PPR and FMD viruses in the samples that were sent for testing and declared the sheep fit for human consumption, there was still some controversy surrounding the conflicting reports of the federal and provincial laboratories.

Following the withdrawal of the petition from the SHC, now the fate of more than 11,000 lies in the hands of the concerned authorities, who would decide whether the animals would be culled as per the previous order or the importer may be allowed to slaughter the livestock for export or other purposes.

Out of court settlement

After battling for weeks over the fate of the Australian sheep, the importer of the animals and provincial authorities managed to settle their differences out of court. The importer, Tariq Mehmood Butt, was assured that the government would allow the PK Livestock Company to slaughter the animals and export the meat.

Neither the importer nor officials of the Sindh Livestock Department were available to comment on the matter, but sources close to both sides said that backdoor diplomacy and pressure tactics convinced Butt to settle the matter out of court.

Meanwhile, the Australian High Commission in Islamabad confirmed the settlement and welcomed the resolution of the case that had aroused much controversy. It added that the remaining sheep, approximately 11,000 of them, would now be processed as intended.