Sost dry port: Sino-Trans files appeal against chief court’s decision

Supreme Appellate Court suspends earlier order pending hearing of appeal


Shabbir Mir November 03, 2016
Supreme Appellate Court suspends earlier order pending hearing of appeal. PHOTO: ONLINE

GILGIT: The apex court of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) on Thursday suspended a court decision which had ended Chinese participation in the operation of Sost Dry Port.

The Supreme Appellate Court’s decision came after Chinese company Sino-Trans filed an appeal against an order of G-B’s Chief Court, which ultimately stopped it from working in the dry port, located near the border with China.

“Our appeal has been admitted by the apex court,” said Amjad Hussain, a counsel for Sino-Trans.

“This means the decision of chief court is suspended and the issue is back to where it was before,” Hussain said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Hussain, who is also president of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in G-B, said the apex court will hear the appeal soon.

Earlier, the G-B Chief Court which is – equivalent to a high court – had allowed a local firm, Dry Port (Limited) Company, to manage Sost Dry Port.

Sino-Trans and Dry Port had clashed over which company had the authority to run the port.

The dispute was taken up in the G-B chief court, which ruled in favour of Dry Port. The company later leased the port to the National Logistics Cell (NLC) for a period of 20 years.

Child killer to hang

In another case, the chief court of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) upheld the death penalty awarded to a child-killer by an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

The ATC had sentenced Zakir Hussain to death for kidnapping and killing three-year-old Muhammad Muaviya near Gilgit in 2013.

Hussain had appealed against the ATC’s decision in the chief court, which upheld the death sentence.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2016.

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