It may be rightly said that ‘something fishy’ about the number and health of imported sheep in the country as the importer on Tuesday did not allow media persons from visiting the government quarantine, where these animals have been kept.
Saying that there was court’s directive to keep the sheep away from media, the Managing Director of P.K Live Stock and Meet Company, the local importing firm which imported the infected animals, disallowed some media persons who were willing the see counting process of the sheep. The officials/staff of Livestock Department of Sindh were to start the counting of animals at the premises on the directive of Sindh High Court.
Counting was not started till 12pm on Tuesday as the importer had reportedly not allowed more than two persons of the department to complete the entire counting. This latest development has raised serious questions not only over transparency of the process but also mandate of the authorities to have their control on these infected animals. The sheep were under the control of importing company, despite the claims of concerned authorities which had declared the site as government quarantine till the resolution of the case related to health of imported sheep.
Interestingly, Australian exporter and his staffs were freely living in the premises and also looking into the affairs of these sheep. As Australian company is also a concerned party of the issue, its presence in the government quarantine was also interesting. But on the contrary the media persons were strictly not allowed there. Earlier, on Tuesday morning, Nazir Kolhoro, the veterinary expert and a member of the existing medical team, was also not allowed into the premises by the management of the company.
However, one of the official spokesmen of the local firm claimed later that as the company’s high-ups were busy, media people could not be entertained. But the fact is that MD PK Live Stock himself and his son were asking journalist to leave the location making a court verdict as excuses. According to the spokesman, Australians, who were also experts in counting, were assisting the government officers from Livestock Department in counting of the thousands of sheep.
