Peshawar   -  High inflation rate and higher prices of the sacrificial animals have forced people to either take part in collective sacrifice or not sacrifice an animal this year.

During a visit to the cattle markets in Peshawar, a price increase of around 30,000 was witnesses in big animals this year, compared to the last year. Similarly, prices of goats and sheep have also witnessed an increase of around Rs20,000 this year.

Several cattle sellers were seen having fixed same price of their animals and many buyers questioned if the cattle traders had mutually decided on the prices of animals to fleece customers.

Muhammad Amjad, a resident of Peshawar city, said that each year they have been sacrificing a big animal but this time his family had decided to slaughter small animals.

“This year we decided that because prices of buffaloes and cows are very high, I and my brother will buy two sheep, one each, to sacrifice on Eidul Azha,” he added. Another man in the market said that he used to purchase a goat for his family on every Eid-ul- Azha but this year the prices had gone up sharply and he had decided to have a share in a big animal, which can be shared by up to seven persons.

The prices showed as if this year many lower middle class families may not sacrifice animals.

Some even questioned that the government had different departments for checking prices of daily use items but it appears that it had not a single department for checking the sacrificial animals’ prices.

It merits a mention here that many traders from Punjab with their cattle had arrived at Kala Mandi and Pasha Mandi in Peshawar. The cattle sellers claimed that they had purchased animals at high prices and fear losses due to the low sale in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A cattle seller said that he had bought around one dozen animals from Punjab at high prices compared to previous year while adding that transportation charges and taxes had also increased this year