Abattoirs call off strike on assurances

Abattoirs in India called off a four-day strike after the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, gave assurances that mainly Muslim-run, unlicensed slaughter houses would not be shut down or attacked.
 
Separately, in Modi’s western home state of Gujarat, lawmakers of his ruling party stiffened the punishment for cow slaughter to life imprisonment, the toughest such measure aimed at protecting cows, widely considered holy by Hindus.
 
Earlier, the maximum punishment had been a seven-year jail term.
 
State elections are due by year-end in Gujarat, where 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were