PHC asks KP govt to explain ban on poultry export to Afghanistan

Peshawar - Peshawar High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government in a writ petition challenging the ban on the export of broiler chickens across the border into Afghanistan. The bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Shahid Khan asked the KP Government to reply by September 8 to the petition, filed by the Poultry Association through Zafar Tahirkheli’s advocate. Justice Roohul Amin, however, questioned the export of chicken to Afghanistan and said that first, the traders should get an Afghanistan quota approved from Punjab and then export the same via KP to Afghanistan. The judge remarked that the poultry meant for KP is brought from Punjab and later it is exported to Afghanistan, leading to an increase in its prices locally in KP. To the judge’s remarks, the petitioners’ lawyer said that the export had been stopped from Torkham but the same continues from other border areas including Chaman. Court questions why KP’s share of poultry, after transportation from Punjab, is exported to Afghanistan leading to increase in prices locally He also argued that the authority to allow or ban the export via the border lies with Federal Commerce Ministry, and not with the KP Livestock Director who has issued the order of the ban. PHC extends stay in NA’s ex-speaker case: Meanwhile, a PHC bench of Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Fazal Subhan extended the stay order till September 13 in the FIA inquiry against former Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser in the prohibited funding case and asked him to submit any reply to the probe body before the date specified. Asad Qaiser’s lawyer Barrister Gohar Ali informed the bench that FIA had started an inquiry against Qaiser in two accounts but it is not FIA’s jurisdiction, but rather Election Commission’s authority. Additional Attorney General Amir Javed said during the hearing that Asad Qaiser was not appearing in the case. To this, Barrister Gohar said that of the three dates Qaiser had been called, one passed during the court hearing while the FIA inquiry officer was informed that he should issue notice after 31 August, the date fixed for the court hearing.