Food exports: Court extends stay order on cattle transport

Officials directed to act upon chief secretary’s proposal of reopening exports.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has extended its stay order on transporting cattle and poultry products to Afghanistan.

At the same time, however, the court has directed officials concerned to act upon the recommendations of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s chief secretary to reopen supplies.

In a written reply submitted to the court on Wednesday, Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastgir said that before allowing food items to be exported to Afghanistan, it is important to ensure that there is no shortage in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The bench ordered that an emergency meeting be called within 10 days to discuss the secretary’s proposals.  It reiterated Dastgir’s view and said export of the said products should not lead to scarcity in the province.

A PHC division bench, comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, directed federal and provincial government officials and representatives of the national food security committee to set modalities for controlled export of poultry products in the meeting.



The bench also observed that smuggling needs to be prevented and ordered the home secretary to circulate new standard operation procedures so that no banned items are sent to Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2012.