Arab Gaow Raksha Dal celebrates five years

Barkas: On eve of completion of its five years, the All India Arab Gaow Raksha Dal asserted that they were able to send clear message to the community during the last five years to avoid slaughtering of cow, as a mark of respect to other religions.

In view of upcoming Bakrid, the Gaow Raksha Dal has once again openly asked the Muslim community to avoid slaughtering cows, this time without any form of resentment. Ali Bin Abdullah Bahamed, who founded the organisation, feels that his vision was slowly materialising keeping in mind the mood of the nation in general and community in particular vis-a-vis animals being slaughtered during the festival. “Our motto remains to stop totally slaughtering of cows completely and the priority of the Gaow Rakshak is to save the animals,” he said.

Speaking to The Hans India, Ali said that at first he faced opposition from within the community for launching this mission, but slowly now the time has come that even leaders and some Ulemas were also acknowledging the purpose. He who also runs a farm of 17 cows, including a calf emphasizes availing the animal for dairy purpose and its dung as compost in farming. “With five milking cows, about three families can survive by selling its milk and other products,” he argues.

Many people were killed in the name of Gaow Raksha, but by generating awareness people can be stopped from slaughtering cows. In this endeavour, similar Raksha Dals have already come up in Delhi, Ayodhya (UP) and Maharashtra. “All I can say that organizations like ours working within the community have helped generating awareness and were successful in achieving it,” he adds.