Pakistan may import tomato and onion from India amid huge surge in vegetable prices due to floods
Lahore, Aug 28: Amid massive surge in the prices of various vegetables and fruits in Lahore and other parts of Punjab province due to devastating floods, the Pakistan government may import tomato and onion from India, according to the market dealers here.
"On Sunday, per kilogram of tomato and onion were available in Lahore's markets at around Rs500 and Rs400 respectively. However, in Sunday markets both commodities were available at Rs 100 per kg less than that of those available in regular markets," Jawaad Rizvi, a wholesale dealer of Lahore market, told PTI.
He said that in the coming days the prices of commodities will increase further as the supply of vegetables from Balochistan, Sindh and south Punjab has badly been affected because of floods.
"In the coming days, onion and tomato per kg prices may cross Rs700. Similarly, potato price has increased from Rs40 per kg to Rs120kg," Rizvi said.
In the markets, the short supply of vegetables is because of destruction of the crops on thousands of acres by the floods in Balochistan and Sindh.
It is learnt the federal government is considering the option to import onion and tomato from India through Wagah border.
Currently, Lahore and other cities of Punjab are getting the supply of tomato and onion from Afghanistan via the Torkham border.
"One hundred containers of tomato and around 30 of onion are being received at Torkham border daily, out of which two containers of tomato and one of onion is being brought to Lahore city on a daily basis and the number of containers is absolutely too short to meet the demand in the provincial capital of Punjab, according to Lahore Market Committee Secretary Shehzad Cheema.
He said vegetables like capsicum or bell pepper are also short in the market due to the floods.
Cheema said the government would eventually import onion and tomato from India.
He said import of vegetables from Iran via Taftan border (Balochistan) was not viable as the Iranian government had increased taxes on its imports and exports.
He said the prices of date palm and banana would also go up in the coming days as most of the orchards in Sindh had been destroyed by the floods. Apple supply from Balochistan or other areas had also been stopped due to flooding.
According to officials, floods have claimed over 1,030 lives so far, with 74 deaths reported in Sindh, 31 in Khyber Pakhtaunkhawa, six in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), four in Balochistan and one in Punjab.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
