The ongoing crisis of sugar’s availability in the country has practically turned into a legal battle as the owners of sugar mills have filed a petition against the Lahore Court Court’s decision of selling sugar at 40 rupees per kilogram. The petition has been accepted by the Supreme Court and the conflict has thus started the highest legal level.

The very act of going against a court decision seems to have enraged the high-ups in judiciary and the Law Minister of Punjab has warned the sugar dealers may be facing the charges of contempt of court by rejecting Lahore High Court’s decision. Here in Peshawar, the provincial government has enforced a legal ban on transporting sugar out of the province. As of now, sugar is not available at the prices fixed by the government and the commodity has been a rarity since the start of Ramazan.

Like many other crises hitting the country, the sugar crisis too came unwarned and struck the public head-on. The average Pakistani rarely got any clue of how a crisis of sugar flashed on them while everything seemed ‘okay’ till the last minute. Perhaps, it’s another reminder of the need for a proper monitoring system in the agro-industrial sector.