The country as well as the metropolis is all set to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest Muslim festival on Friday.
Karachiites are giving final touches to their preparations to celebrate the Eid with full religious fervor and enthusiasm, although electioneering is gathering momentum in the megalopolis and gradually the city is being gripped by election fever. Yet the election fever and chilly weather could not dampen the festivities of the Eid.
This Eid, a fortnight before the national elections that are scheduled for January 8, has a political flavour.
Many of the political leaders, especially aspirants and nominated candidates, are set to celebrate the Eid in their constituencies, as they are engaged in canvassing there for the January 8 polls in a bid to ensure their berth in the coming parliament or provincial assemblies so that they could climb on the power ladder.
On the day of Eidul Azha Muslims around the globe commemorate the supreme sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) by slaughtering animals and distributing meat to the poor, friends and relatives.
The celebrations in Karachi as well as other part of the world begins with Eid congregations, which are held in numerous mosques, Eidgahs and big grounds, followed by sacrifice of cattle, goats, sheep and even camels in the name of Allah.
In Karachi cattle markets have been established in the outskirts of the city and on Super Highway, National Highway, Baldia and other areas. Till some time back, cattle markets were established in many areas inside the city. This led to numerous civic problems including chaotic traffic jams on city roads in during the Eid season.
These problems prompted the local authorities to ban setting up of cattle markets of sacrificial animals inside the city and resultantly such markets were shifted outside the city.
Afterwards cattle markets are set up outside the city mainly on Super Highway, National Highway, Baldia, Malir and other areas. The biggest cattle market of sacrificial animals of the country, some say of the world, is established at Sohrab Goth on Super Highway.
Traders engaged in the business said that some five to seven lakh sacrificial animals are being brought to this market to be sold to devotees and faithful.
Apart form this; many other Bakra Mandis have also been set up in the city. According to close estimates some five to six lakh different big and small animals are slaughtered during three days of Eidul Azha in the city to commemorate the greatest sacrifice of the Prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (AS).
As one slaughter the sacrificial animal and distribute its meats among relatives, friends and poor, activists of various political, religious and welfare organisations throng the site of altars to secure hide of the animals for their respective organisation.
The hide or skin of the sacrificial animals has become bone of contention between different groups and various organisations, who run week long advertisement campaigns urging people to donate the hide to their respective organisations.
In 70’s and early 80’s there were two prominent organisations, who collected hide for their charitable activities. These were, Edhi Foundation and Al-Khidmat. The former is prominent and popular welfare organisation with the world’s largest ambulance network, while the later is the welfare wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.  
 Until the emergence of MQM in the late 1980s these two organisations used to collect hide of sacrificial animals for carrying out their charitable and welfare activities.
As the MQM contended the Jamaat in the political front, it also landed into the hide collection arena. Later many other organisations such as Sunni Tehrik, seminaries and scores of fake or real NGOs also jumped into the hide collection campaign during the eid.
Many people accused MQM of initiating violence and other means of intimidation in hide collection.
For quite some years the hide collection campaign by these organisation has become a source of concerns for the law enforcement agencies as these group snatch hides at gun point and clashed with each other in a bid to secure more and more skins for their respective outfit, as currently market value of hide of an average cow or bull is Rs2300 to Rs2500 while of that of goat or sheep is Rs300 to Rs350.    
For last couple of years the police and local administration weeks before Eid chalk out code of conduct for the various parties and organisations intending to collect hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha.
But these codes and arrangements claimed to be taken by the police officials for avoiding hide snatching and collection at gun point prove mere lip service as armed groups run battles in the streets of the metropolitan for hides.
This year too the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and the capital city police Karachi have issued code of conduct for the organisations intending to collect hides of sacrificial animals.
City government banned hide collection by any individual or organisation without obtaining NOC from it.
Setting up of camps for collecting hides and use of loudspeakers for the purpose are also banned.
The administration asserts that these strict rules are aimed at ensuring that people donated hides at their free will and no one resorted to exerting pressure in this regard.
But the stakeholders are not satisfied with the measures, as they apprehended this year too, like the previous years, activists of a political party would resort to hide snatching and forceful collections.
A leader of Sunni Tehrik, Saleem Noor while talking to Weekly Pulse accused that workers to a political party which hold reins of city government, of threatening people of dire consequences if they did not donate hide to the particular party. He even claimed that threatening letters were being sent to homes in many localities asking the people to donate hides to the party.
He also expressed apprehension over the measures of the administration, questioning its non-partiality.
Saleem said that before issuing the code of conduct the administration did consult with the stakeholders.
When contacted by Weekly Pulse, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Karachi Azhar Ali Farooqi said that police has taken all measures to prevent hide snatching in the metropolis and a code of conduct has also been issued in this regard.
He said that the police would strive hard to implement the code of conduct to prevent hide snatching in the city. 
Meanwhile, the Edhi Foundation expressed apprehensions that its welfare activities could suffer if the hide donation to the foundation continued to decline.
An official of the foundation told Weekly Pulse that hides’ donation to the foundation has declined in recent years in the country especially in Karachi.
As the foundation budgets to carry out welfare and charitable activities mainly depend on the collection of Zakat, Fitra and hides, he said, due to meager sacrificial animals’ hide donation in the city its activities could be affected.
He said that the welfare work of the foundation particularly in Karachi had been ignored, as last year there were certain areas of the city from where not even a single hide had been collected.