Reports sought on masks price-hike

LAHORE :The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh on Friday sought reports from federal and provincial governments and Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on reportedly shortage of surgical masks in market and their sale on exorbitant prices. Hearing a petition on the matter, the chief justice observed that apparently the surgical masks had been vanished from all hospitals and medical stores in wake of coronavirus.

A provincial law officer stated that the government constituted inspection teams to check the shortage of the masks and to ensure their availability in market.

CJ Sheikh summoned the government and DRAP officials concerned on March 2. Judicial Activism Panel’s chairman Advocate Azhar Siddique filed the petition saying the surgical masks were not available in market and had been hoarded by certain wholesale dealers to gain monitory benefit in a crisis like situation due to coronavirus.

He said if the masks were not made available in the market it would amount to exploitation of the citizens and would ultimately cause an extraordinary burden on them. The petitioner-lawyer argued that the DRAP had been playing the role of a silent spectator as it took no measure to control the prices, forcing the people to buy it at higher price.

He sought a court’s order to the DRAP and other authorities to control prices of surgical masks and take strict action against the elements involved in its hoarding and profiteering. repatriated prisoners: The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the ministry of foreign affairs to submit an updated list of Pakistani prisoners repatriated from jails of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Justice Ayesha A Malik further sought a report on efforts made to ensure repatriation of the prisoners since February 18, 2019, when KSA Crown Prince had announced immediate release of 2,107 Pakistanis.

The judge was hearing a petition by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) on behalf of 10 Pakistanis on death row in Gulf countries. The petition sought enforcement of the fundamental rights of Pakistani citizens facing execution in jails across the Gulf countries. Further hearing was adjourned for a month.

Last year on November 12, a list of 579 Pakistani prisoners released from the KSA was submitted by the foreign affairs ministry in the court. An analysis of the list revealed that less than five percent of those prisoners had returned after the crown prince’s announcement. The rest had been repatriated prior to that.

A research by the JPP shows that the number of overseas prisoners has increased by 26 per cent since 2014. An increase in number of Pakistanis imprisoned in Saudi Arabia was also recorded during the same period. According to another report submitted earlier by the ministry of interior in the court, nearly 11,000 Pakistanis are languishing in foreign jails.