PESHAWAR, Oct 11: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday rejected a report of the national animal quarantine on surplus cattle in the country after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government rejected it as incorrect, and ordered production of a report based on facts.

It also extended its ban on transportation of cattle and poultry to Afghanistan until Nov 7 and asked the province’s Anti-Corruption Establishment to crack down on officials involved in the smuggling of these banned items.

Hearing the case on the export and smuggling of cattle and poultry products to Afghanistan, a bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth asked in charge of the national animal quarantine Dr Mohammad Ilyas about the number of the nationwide cattle, including surplus ones.

Dr Ilyas said recently, the livestock departments of all the four provinces and the national food security ministry had a meeting in which 223,000 cattle heads were declared surplus before being allowed to be exported.

He added that 70,000 cattle heads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were surplus.

When the chief justice asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa livestock department director general and in charge of the animal movement and transportation livestock Dr Noor Mohammad on what basis, cattle had been declared surplus in his province, he denied issuing such a report and said his province was deficient in cattle and poultry products.

The bench asked the in charge of the national animal quarantine to submit an ‘accurate’ report on the next hearing on Nov 7.

He was also asked to secure data on production of poultry and its export from the province’s animal husbandry commissioner.

On July 23, the court had suspended all export permits issued by the federal government and ordered confiscation of cattle on the way to Afghanistan.

During the hearing, the bench expressed displeasure at reports about the continued cattle smuggling to Afghanistan via tribal areas and asked the ACE director to ensure strict action against those smuggling cattle via frequented and unfrequented routes.It also ordered crackdown on the government officials, including law-enforcers, conniving with cattle smugglers, and said if that didn’t happen, it would take action against the culpable people itself.

The chief justice observed that there were reports about the shifting of meat to Afghanistan in chilled containers and therefore, the provincial chief and home secretaries should seek reports from the relevant district coordination officers about cattle smuggling.

The bench rejected a request of Pakistan Poultry Association to lift the ban on transportation of poultry.