By our correspondent
KARACHI (March 04 2004):The fate of wheat imported from Australia will be decided today (Thursday) as the team appointed by the federal cabinet for examination has
completed the sampling and is now all set for laboratory testing.

The tug of war between Australian and Pakistani governments started when the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) rejected the consignment of Australian
wheat loaded on three ships, declaring the "grain is not fit for human consumption".

Kernal bunt fungus and other disease were found in the consignment, the MINFAL claimed. This claim stunned the importer as well as the Australian government.

In the beginning, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock turned down requests for a joint inspection of the consignment. However, on strong protest by the Australian
government, the federal government has appointed Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, in charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology, for joint inspection of the commodity.

The team has drawn samples from all the hatches of three ships, importer Haroon Suleman told The News.

These samples will be sent to the laboratory on Thursday morning, he said, adding the result of the samples is expected in the same evening.

The News