LAHORE, Feb 11: A fresh petition seeking a legislative ban on the sale and purchase of kidneys and other human organs was moved with the Lahore High Court on Wednesday.

The petition, filed by Advocate MD Tahir, is scheduled to be taken up on Thursday. The petitioner has pleaded for a court directive to the Punjab government for enacting a law to prohibit the inhuman trade which, he submitted, had led to emergence of a mafia of doctors and their agents indulged in it.

In a similar petition filed by Mr Tahir, the sale of kidneys by about 400 people of Kot Momin in Bhalwal was taken up by the Lahore High Court in 2002. He had submitted that the villagers were operated upon at a private hospital in Rawalpindi and paid Rs40,000 each. One kidney was later sold for Rs400,000. The court directed the Punjab government to submit a reply to the contents of petition. The petition is still pending.

In his fresh petition, Mr Tahir has stated that the trade in human body parts, particularly kidneys, has spread to Mianwali, Vehari, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Hafizabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore where a mafia of doctors and their agents is engaged in buying kidneys from the poor for a low price and selling them to the affluent at exorbitant prices.

According to him, one kidney is bought for something around Rs50,000 but is sold for Rs500,000. He submitted that the mafia had developed contacts abroad and rich people from other countries were paying exorbitant prices for kidneys.

The petitioner said members of the National Assembly and the Punjab legislature were maintaining a criminal silence over this inhuman trade. He submitted that India had long ago enacted a law against the trade which now constituted an offence in the India Penal Code.