Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: In a surprising turn of events, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the reopening of the three banned sugar mills owned by the Sharif family.

The decision was made after the failure of settlement between five sugar mills owners and workers.

Now, the three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, temporarily allowed the banned mills to start operating this season.

Earlier, during the hearing of petitions filed by growers for the reopening of three relocated mills – Chaudhry Sugar Mills to Rahim Yar Khan, Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills to Muzaffargarh and Ittefaq Sugar Mills to Bahawalpur – Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had said that the banned mills would not be reopened, but they might be asked to compensate the farmers. The SC further observed that three banned sugar mills in south Punjab would not be reopened. The chief justice said that the possibility could not be ruled out that banned sugar mills were creating hurdles for farmers, adding that the banned mills should compensate farmers who had cultivated sugarcane in the areas and faced financial losses.

The bench had also questioned the nexus between the Punjab government and the banned mills and expressed annoyance over the local administration’s failure to resolve the issue.

Published in Daily Times, February 22^nd 2018.