PHC reserves verdict in sugar export ban case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has reserved its decision on a petition against the ban on the export of sugar by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Khursheed Iqbal heard the petition. The lawyer for the petitioners Ishaq Ali Qazi, Additional Attorney General Hazrat Said, Additional Advocate General Mohammad Inam Khan Yousafzai appeared before the bench.

The lawyer appearing for the petitioner told the bench that Pakistan was the sixth largest grower of sugarcane and the ninth largest producer of sugar in the world.

He said the Punjab and Sindh governments had given approval to the sugar export after the federal government did so, but the KP government had imposed a ban to this effect. He said that the decision by the KP government had caused losses to the sugar mills.

He said that the sugar mills, which were operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, employed thousands of people in the province. The lawyer said the government had banned the export of sugar, which was causing losses to the growers and wasting the opportunity to earn foreign exchange.

The lawyer said the federal and provincial government should be asked as to why the ban had been imposed on the export of sugar. There was enough stock of sugar in the country and the price of the commodity could be maintained at Rs140 per kilogram.

The Economic Cooperation Committee, had also approved the export of sugar, he said, adding that as per the procedure adopted for the export around 64 sugar mills from Punjab, 30 from Sindh and six from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been allotted the quota to export the sugar.

Additional Attorney General Hazrat Said that the provincial government did not raise any objection to the export of sugar at the meeting of the advisory committee.

He said that the federal government had consulted the provincial governments before giving approval to the export of sugar.