KHAR, Oct 24:  The tribal people have demanded of the political administration to take effective steps to stop smuggling of livestock as it was causing hike in the prices of sacrificial animals in Bajaur Agency.

The people from different areas of the agency said that the prices of sacrificial animals increased manifold owing to smuggling of cattle from the tribal region. They asked the administration to imposed ban on movement of animals from agency till Eidul Azha.

Aziz Khan, a resident of Khar, told Dawn that he was not able to buy a sacrificial animal owing to financial restraints. He said that the recent increase in prices of animals put tribal people in trouble as they couldn’t buy the animals of their choice.

“I would like to buy a goat or another small animal because the prices of big animals are very high this year,” said Abdul Manan Khan, another tribesman.

The tribal people alleged that smuggling of animals from Bajaur to Afghanistan was the main cause of recent increase in the prices of sacrificial animals. They said that scores of animals were being smuggled to different parts of Afghanistan on daily basis from Bajaur.

The tribesmen blamed administration for not taking effective steps for curbing smugglings of animals. They urged the administration to put brake on cattle smuggling and take action against those people, who were involved in smuggling of animals.

However, the officials of political administration rejected the allegations of tribal people about smuggling of animals to Afghanistan. They said that strict action would be taken against anyone if he was found involved in cattle smuggling.

An official of the political administration told Dawn that they had taken effective measures to stop smuggling of animals from the agency.

“The administration has banned transportation of cattle anywhere from the agency as well as steps have been taken to curb smuggling of animals to Afghanistan,” he added.

He said that several checkpoints were set up in various areas of the region to curb cattle smuggling.