ISLAMABAD, July 25: Two federal secretaries have been summoned to the Supreme Court on Thursday to justify the delay in promulgating a law to curb the unethical trade in human organs in the country.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, summoning the secretaries of health and cabinet division, observed on Wednesday that if the law was not passed the court would pass a judicial order which then would be binding on everyone.

Although the matter was supposed to be on the priority of the cabinet for its significance, he said “When it suits them, the government passes a law in a single day but when it comes to the interest of the common citizens, they linger on,” observed the CJ.

“Legislation is not our function and we do not want to encroach to other areas. But this ordinance should be passed on priority to end this unethical business,” the CJ observed.

“Pakistan has become a paradise for illegal trade of human organs due to the connivance of some mafia,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this business, which is a crime, is being done by doctors,” the CJ said referring to a documentary on kidney sale in a village of Tehsil Shujabad.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court had taken suo motu action on the complaint of Mr Muhammad Asghar of village Yazman, in Bahawalpur district, that some persons had forcibly removed a kidney of his son, Muhammad Amjad.

Illegal trade of human organs, particularly the sale of kidneys, was thriving without any check. The trade was not only against human rights but also against fundamental constitutional rights of the citizens, the CJ observed on Wednesday.

On April 19, the government informed the Supreme Court that a Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Ordinance was ready and awaiting approval of the cabinet for its promulgation.

Deputy Attorney General Raja Muhammad Irshad told the court that the draft law had been prepared and sent to the Cabinet Division the same day the apex court passed the orders but expressed apprehensions that powerful lobby behind this business was responsible for the delay.

A Deputy Secretary in the Cabinet Division also told the bench that the draft law had been finalised and was included in the agenda of the Cabinet for approval.

Unscrupulous private clinics have sprung up also in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad which use middlemen to find kidney donors for their patients, mostly Arabs from Middle East. These middlemen entice farmers groaning under poverty or huge debts in small villages to selling their body organs.

Last year, newspapers carried chilling photographs of about a dozen brick kiln workers posing shirtless outside the Lahore Press Club to show their scars. They had sold their kidneys to pay off debts to kiln owners to earn freedom for themselves or close family members.

Reports say a kidney fetches between Rs60,000 to Rs150,000 to a donor, depending on how desperate his situation is.