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ISLAMABAD: Local administration in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad has seized around 1,000 kilograms of donkey meat from an illegal slaughterhouse and arrested a “foreign national,” officials said on Sunday.

The seizure was made during a joint raid by the Islamabad Food Authority (IFA), local police and the Islamabad district administration on a farmhouse in Tarnol area, according to the IFA.

Fifty live donkeys were also recovered from the site and an IFA team was destroying the meat under the supervision of Deputy Director Dr. Tahira Siddique.

Police have lodged a case against the arrested foreign national, who had been running the operation, and are looking for his local facilitators.

“A foreign national was arrested at the site which has been sealed and an investigation is underway,” Muhammad Nasir Butt, a spokesperson for the Islamabad district administration, told Arab News.

“We will conduct further raids as per the findings of the investigation and efforts are also underway to trace local individuals involved.”

Butt said the meat had been packed for “export to a neighboring country.”

“So far, we have not found any traces of meat being used in the local restaurants, but administration is investigating the matter from multiple angles,” he added.

According to a police report seen by Arab News, the farmhouse had no authorization to process donkey meat or export live donkeys.

“Due to the absence of records for [processing] haram meat, and on the basis of its supply and sale, legal action shall be taken against concerned individuals under Sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Food Safety Act, 2021,” the report said.

Pakistan is frequently listed among countries with the highest number of donkey populations worldwide. The country’s donkey population rose to 6 million in fiscal year 2024-25, which ended in June, compared to 5.9 million in 2023–24, according to the latest economic survey.

In May this year, Pakistan Customs had foiled an attempt to smuggle donkey hides worth approximately Rs80 million (around $283,800) to China. The staff deployed on the Risk Management Profiling System of the Karachi Customs

Collectorate detected a container number SEGU-3154225 cleared from the South Asia Pakistan Port (SAPT) terminal in Karachi, whose export documents showed 285 packages of leather products were being sent to China.

The animal’s meat and hides are quite popular in China. Gelatin derived from donkey hides is highly sought after in China for its use in Ejiao, a traditional medicinal remedy. Several Chinese eateries sell donkey meat and burgers for consumption.

Dr. Siddique, who was part of the team that raided the farmhouse, said the availability of safe and quality food in Islamabad was the top priority of the IFA.

“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against those who endanger public health,” she was quoted as saying by the IFA.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Sunday that the government will not allow pilgrims to travel to Iran and Iraq by road for the Arbaeen pilgrimage this year, citing public safety and national security concerns for the ban. 

Thousands of Pakistani citizens visit Iran and Iraq annually for religious tourism and to visit religious sites, including observing Arbaeen (Arabic for “forty”), a significant religious occasion in Shia Islam. It marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussain, who was “martyred” in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

Travelers to Iran and Iraq by road have often been targeted in sectarian attacks by armed groups in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, which shares a border with Iran.

Islamabad’s decision comes in the wake of a rise in militant attacks in the province by ethnic Baloch militant groups, who demand a greater share of the province’s mineral resources from Islamabad.

“After extensive consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Balochistan Government, and security agencies, it has been decided that Zaireen will not be allowed to travel to Iraq and Iran by road for Arbaeen this year,” Naqvi wrote on X. 

The interior minister said this “difficult decision” was taken in the interest of public safety and national security.

However, he said Shia pilgrims will be allowed to travel by air to Iran and Iraq.

“Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to arrange maximum flights to facilitate their pilgrimage in the coming days,” he wrote. 

A Pakistani immigration official told Arab News earlier this month that Islamabad plans to overhaul its pilgrimage travel policy to Iraq, Iran and Syria after authorities confirmed around 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims went missing or overstayed in the three countries over the past decade. 

Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf revealed this month that 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims had either overstayed or gone missing in these countries without any official record of their whereabouts.

In response, Pakistani authorities have scrapped the long-standing “Salar system,” in which private group leaders managed travel logistics, and are introducing a new centralized, computerized structure to track and regulate pilgrim movement more effectively.

Mustafa Jamal Kazi, Pakistan’s director general of Immigration and Passports, said a new Ziyarat Management Policy has been finalized by the government under which pilgrims will only be allowed to travel in organized groups, and licensed tour operators will be held directly responsible for ensuring that all group members return to Pakistan before their visas expire.

Any operator found violating the policy or failing to ensure the return of all pilgrims will have their license canceled.