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Blood and dust at Rahim Yar Khan's 'Camel Dangal'
Part of Queen Elizabeth’s tour to Pakistan in 1961 was a visit to the horse and cattle show, held at Lahore’s Fortress Stadium. Deemed a bit "too fierce" for the Queen’s liking, the event excluded its flagship feature: a camel fight.
For Her Majesty, the camels did a little dance instead.
Though the Queen has long been gone, a percussive ring of the dhol reverberates at Rahim Yar Khan's camel wrestling competition. This barbaric event draws scores of visitors and serves as a market for millions of rupees to move hands. This year, the dangal (colloquial term for a wrestling event) was held on Jan 18 in Ehsanpur, about 50 kilometres from Rahim Yar Khan.
The festival is said to have been organised by a member of Punjab's Provincial Assembly. The lawmaker's alleged involvement in the event is ironic, given that the provincial government has placed a ban on camel fighting.
This gruesome dangal featured around 16 fights and attracted thousands of visitors, each of whom paid Rs350 as entry fee.
The event was not the first of its kind. Earlier in January, a camel wrestling event in Muzaffargarh became the centre of a police investigation, as part of which, the elder brother of a serving MNA was charged (along with his accomplices) under Pakistan's Gambling Act.
Against the heightened political backdrop of this contest, it seems that the camels are merely vessels of political power play between local landlords, wealthy agriculturalists and political bigwigs.
Read more: Camel Fight: Dasti's brother booked.
Method to the madness
At this time of the year, mating season is in full swing and these otherwise gentle beasts are erratic and charged up. Cruelly enough, their energies are harnessed to put up a deeply disturbing spectacle of violence and barbarism. The crowd appears largely unconcerned about the aspect of animal cruelty that characterises the contest. With roughly 4,000 people gathered to watch, the stakes are high and the atmosphere is festive.
Read more: Call to enforce law to stop cruelty to animals
"A promotional campaign for the festival had been in place for at least two weeks in the run-up to the event," explained Asim, a local journalist who was at the event. A fair amount of planning preceded the festival, raising serious questions about the police's inaction in curbing a banned practice.
An owner, whose camel has a reputation for winning, charges his opponent a hefty amount to make his camel available for a fight. When a lesser-known camel beats a mightier camel, its monetary worth increases. For each subsequent fight, the camel owner charges a different amount depending on the camel's track record — and of course, the owner's negotiation skills.
As the camels inch closer to each other in what would be a needlessly painful bout, the political context of the event begins to dissolve and a sense of anxiety becomes palpable.
The camels have both been pampered and trained all year long for this fateful day. Groomed on a diet of organic eggs, milk and ghee; some of these beasts are going to leave the fight severely injured and possibly dead.
There is always blood
Months of conditioning and training comes to a test as the fight begins. Both camels try to dislodge the other by attacking the forelegs. Footage of the event shows their necks in a deadlock with the ‘referee’ spinning helplessly around the two awkwardly positioned camels. They start breathing more intensely as their necks remain locked for over a minute.
In a surprise move, one of the camels snaps out of the neck-lock and pins the other camel to the ground, leaving little room for it to retaliate. With all its body weight, it pins the other camel's neck against the dusty ground. It's only a matter of time now, before the victor is declared.
The losing camel starts to howl in pain as the live commentators announce a winner on loudspeaker. A section of the jubilant crowd pours into the ring, encircling the camel and taking it for a victory lap around the makeshift arena.
Under Article 6(c) of The Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act 1890, “if any person incites any animal to fight, or aids or abets any such incitement; he shall be punished with a fine which may extend to fifty rupees.”
Police inaction and the law
Sporadic and inconsistent interventions by law enforcement agencies, coupled with the heightened political backdrop of the event, makes this traditional affair difficult to extinguish; but what's possibly more worrying is that besides placing an oft-flouted ban, no concrete steps have yet been taken by the government to quell the distasteful tradition of animal fighting in Pakistan.
The event lasted about eight hours and attracted thousands of people. "Some high level police officials were involved in giving the event a green light. In the vicinity of the festival, there were no uniformed policemen," alleged Asim, adding, "neither did the crowd seem too bothered about animal cruelty."
While the gambling that takes place at such events is hard to trace, Pakistan does have anti-gambling laws in place. What needs a revamp are animal cruelty laws.
Back in the year 1890, the British enacted a legislation that aimed to prevent cruelty towards animals. For many years, it served its purpose effectively. Back then, Mehekma-e-Berehmi, as it was called, was a government department whose inspectors would patrol the streets and slap on-spot fines to whoever they would find mistreating an animal.
The archaic Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act of 1890, under Article 6(c) maintains that “if any person incites any animal to fight, or aids or abets any such incitement; he shall be punished with a fine which may extend to fifty rupees.”
In the early 20th century, Rs50 was a painfully large amount — enough to deter cruelty towards animals. However, after over a century of the currency's devaluation, stipulations for animal cruelty in Pakistani law have been reduced to toothless legal artefacts.
Read more: Breaking the cycle of animal abuse
Besides Rahim Yar Khan, such fairs have also reportedly been held in Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur, Layyah, Jalalpur Pirwala, Nawabshah and Kashmor.
Camel fighting originated from Turkey and made its way down to the Indian subcontinent. Today, it persists in different parts of South Asia and continues to iconify Pakistan's difficult relationship with some of its traditions.
Header: Fighting Camels, Mughal India, c. 1680. Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris.—Creative Commons
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