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PETA steps up campaign against meat trade in India

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals is bringing to India, in a slow but steady manner, their international campaign to declare Indian beef meat as haram (forbidden) for Muslims.

However, Islamic experts in India are not yet ready to buy the argument.

PETA, the US based non-governmental organisation with high profile supporters like Pamela Anderson, has publicly demanded in Malaysia and America that meat exported from India be declared haram because of the pre-slaughter cruelty towards animals.

In India, too, they have started a slow whisper campaign and green room persuasions.

PETA recently released evidence of cruel transport of animals prior to slaughter, including the "deliberate breaking of their tail bones and the introduction of hot chilli peppers and tobacco into their eyes, as well as incredible overcrowding resulting in crushed limbs and suffocation."

PETA believes this is reason enough to declare the meat haram, unusable for Muslims.

Islamic scholars defer. "Beef will not become haram if animals are not treated properly before slaughter," argues Ijas Aslam, one of the national secretaries of Jamat-e-Islami. "It is very important that animals should not be treated cruelly. However, we are not talking in the context of the United States or Europe. Here in India even human beings are not treated properly."

Cruelty shown to animals and the issue of meat being halal or haram, are entirely different, Aslam says. "Even if an animal is not treated properly, the meat doesn't become haram. If I don't treat my child properly, will he not be my child?"

PETA argues that experts it has consulted and laws in countries such as Malaysia makes meat from India fit to be declared haram.

Malaysia is the largest importer of Indian meat, at over 53 million kilograms a year. And it is estimated to fetch India over $ 88.5 million a year in foreign exchange.

PETA points out that Malaysian government's own regulations for imported meat, titled "Pre-Slaughter Conditions for Animals/Poultry", issued under Islamic religious law, says: "All animals must be... free from any signs of wounds... or any form of disfigurement. Animals and poultry shall be treated in a humane manner prior to slaughter. Any ill-treatment, acts that may cause stress or fear are strictly forbidden... Any acts of injury or cutting is prohibited on animals prior to slaughter."

Despite their arguments, PETA could not find any acceptance with the Malaysian government.

On July 26, the Malaysian Islamic Advancement Department and the Department of Veterinary Science declared that meat exported from India is halal.

PETA, in reply, only stepped up its aggressive international stand. The verdict was termed, "Incredibly dishonest and a slap in the face to conscientious consumers," by PETA's president Ingrid Newkirk in a statement issued in the US. She said the Malaysian government "is doing a disservice to consumers and will succeed only in undermining confidence in its own objectivity."

Failing to convince the consumer, PETA has now moved to the supplier. In India, they are treading cautiously, carefully avoiding booby-traps and religious mine fields.

After its high-profile frontal attack on India's leather industry, PETA has now completely focussed on slaughter houses and exported beef.

Delegations of PETA have been holding meetings with Islamic scholars and other concerned people to mop up public opinion to end cruelty by slaughter houses. Unlike in forums outside India, they have not been demanding the declaration of the meat as haram.

Rana Sahiri, a creative director with Mudra Communications in Bombay and a PETA sympathiser, held meetings with Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Abullah Bukhari, an influential Muslim leader in old Delhi and member of the Delhi assembly, Shoaib Iqbal, last month.

"We didn't discuss if it was halalorharam. It is a very sensitive issue. It can have a backlash. If they go away angry, then all our efforts will fail," admits Sahiri.

"There is an issue about the way animals are treated in India. It is not right and the Imam and Shoaib agreed with us," Sahiri said. "It is first a humanitarian issue, then a religious one."

Most people involved in the beef trade in India are Muslims, and most exports too are to Muslim countries. "So what we need are the right thinkers from the community. If they pressurise the government and educate traders, the problem can be solved."

Sahiri says to end the pre-slaughter cruelty towards animals, the government, traders and middlemen will have to spend much more on transportation, food etc.

Jason Baker, media coordinator of PETA in India, says, "The way these animals are transported to slaughter houses are horrific. There is no food, no water, no exhaust in lorries, and they are treated in the most terrifying manner you can imagine."

He admits that PETA's attempts to work with the Indian government to improve the condition of transported animals and slaughter houses has not borne fruit. However, he is hopeful that PETA's attempts, which hasn't improved despite deep-rooted religious reverence, will succeed

In a meeting on July 24 in New Delhi, Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran assured a PETA delegation that steps were being taken to improve the situation in the states.

PETA had earlier called for a boycott of leather goods from India to end the cruelty. In fact, at least one high profile American designer house stopped importing Indian leather.

After the minister's assurance, PETA has agreed to wait till August 31 before launching an agitation to pressure the leather industry.

In the meanwhile, PETA and its friends will continue to try and influence the Muslim leadership in India and outside to declare the meat haram.

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