Supreme Court Adjourns Hearing Of Case Regarding Stoppage Of Sugar Export To Afghanistan

Umer Jamshaid Published January 23, 2020 | 10:48 PM

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of a case for a week regarding the stoppage of sugar export to Afghanistan by the Customs Department

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2020 ) :The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of a case for a week regarding the stoppage of sugar export to Afghanistan by the Customs Department.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprised Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Yahya Afridi asked under what law Customs Department had prevented the sugar containers? The deputy director customs said the sugar exported to Afghanistan was of the low quality.

To this, Justice Yahya Afridi inquired that from when the Customs Department had started to check the quality of the sugar? He said the customs officials were creating obstacles in Pak-Afghan Transit Trade as the buyer and seller were responsible to check the quality of the product.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial said only quality stuff should be exported from Pakistan.

The deputy director customs said according to rules the department could prevent the delivery of injurious edibles to be exported to any country.

Justice Yahya Afridi said Pak-Afghan Transit Trade had its own rules.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial expressed concerns over the performance of the Customs Department and said the court had never received any appropriate assistance from the customs in any case. Even today, the customs officials were unable to explain why they stopped the sugar, he added.

He said the officers should be sent to the court who had knowledge of law and the cases.

The court gave customs officials last chance to prepare the case and adjourned the hearing of the case for a week.

It is to mention here that Customs had stopped 262 sugar containers exporting to Afghanistan in June 2019. Customs cleared 92 containers out of 354.