Adil Najam
The pictures that follow are graphic and horrific. So, please do not scroll any further if you think you cannot handle them.
These are pictures of a dog fight, taken yesterday outside the village of Lora in Abbottabad District. But such fights happen in many places in Pakistan. Not every day, but often enough for all of us to be incensed, to be disgusted, and to be angry about.
There are some who consider this to be a sport. They are wrong. Very very wrong. This is not sport. This is cruelty. This is inhuman. This is also illegal.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1890 is clear on this point: Section 3(a) reads as follows: “if any person overdrives, beats, or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering, he shall be punished, in the case of a first offence, with fine… or with imprisonment. .. or with both.”
But – think about it – do we really need a law to recognize that what is happening in these pictures is just wrong. Very very wrong. Cruel. And illegal.
There are others who will tell us that this happens elsewhere too, including other places where it is technically illegal. In Latin America, in Russia, in Central Asia, and even in the United States. That is true. But that makes this what we see in these pictures (or what happens in those countries) no less wrong. No less cruel. No less inhuman. No less disgusting.
These jahils seems much better than the jahils of “Civilized” and “literate” West.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west -12608983
Agree; absolutely disgusting. But what do you expect given the way we treat our own people (servants, haris, etc.)?
Way back in the 1970s, the UK Kennel Club banned the export of bull terriers to Pakistan because they were used to improve the fighting breed. I assume the ban is still in place?
What else would you expect from a society where literacy rate is as low as it is, and source of recreation and entertainment are scarce at best.
As sad, bad and sadistic this sports is, let it not imply that people in Pakistan are barbaric, cruel and backward. This is very common sport in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and other southern sates of the US. Not to mention some northern states like Ohio and Michigan… In fact just a few days ago three fighting pit bulls were confiscated and destroyed by the law enforcement agencies… Rooster fights and betting is another illegal sports in the US… The only difference is that over here laws are on the books and when caught, the culprits face the music. Pakistan needs similar laws and most importantly, the enforcement of laws…
If this is cruel, then so is slaughter of tens of thousands of animals for Eid.
And, so is the killing of animals that happens every day for the pleasures of our tastebuds in our carnivorous country.
Lets not use sophistry to hide the double standards. Either condemn all killing or accept it all. Isn’t it convenient that God always asks for poor little animals in sacrifice and never us humans?
Ahmed