Islamabad: The federal government has decided to establish five additional anti-trafficking courts in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan for speedy hearing of trafficking cases during the ongoing national crackdown against traffickers.
Sources say that on Tuesday, the federal cabinet has approved the establishment of five special courts. This decision was made through the circulation summary submitted by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
According to the summary, three courts will be established in Balochistan, one each in Sindh and Punjab. Cities designated for these special courts under the Customs Act 1969 include Karachi, Quetta, Chaman, Nushki and Multan.
Officials said that there is a major problem of prosecuting smugglers under the Customs Act, 1969 due to non-availability of customs courts in Punjab at present. In many cases, the accused from different cities of Punjab have to be taken to Lahore for hearing, due to which the proceedings of such cases are further delayed.
However, now the formation of anti-trafficking courts is also due to the speedy hearing of these cases. A similar situation has been seen in anti-trafficking cases in Sindh and Balochistan. According to officials, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the relevant authorities to enact necessary legislation to prevent trafficking.
During a high-level meeting in Islamabad to deal with the smuggling of sugar, wheat, flour and urea in the country, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also emphasized on making the anti-trafficking courts effective and efficient.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the relevant authorities to enact necessary legislation to prevent trafficking and urged the courts to be immediately active to deal with the trafficking of sugar, wheat, flour and urea.
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3&appId=770767426360150”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.7”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));