And we have democracy in Pakistan, so that the leaders can make a complete fool of the inhabitants of the land of pure…
KARACHI: The rejection of 15 lakh tonnes of Australian wheat by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) — a decision that skyrocketed the flour prices in Sindh to Rs 20 per kg and earned at least Rs three billion profit to wheat black marketers in late February — is now shaping into a major scandal for the Jamali government, according to interviews with related officials, informed sources and documents available with this correspondent.
The Australian wheat consignment rejected by Pakistan in the last week of February is now being consumed by the citizens of the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Sri Lanka where the governments simply ignored the Pakistani rejection and purchased the same wheat on the basis of their own lab tests that did not confirm media statements by Pakistani officials that the Australian wheat was massively infected with the deadly Karnal Bunt virus, according to the documentary confirmation received from all three states. Loaded with the lab tests in the UAE, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and two other top grain testing facilities in the United States and the UK, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) is preparing an international lawsuit against the government of Pakistan for defaming its most important export, informed sources said. Australia has an annual wheat export of about US$3 billion. The government’s decision to reject 1.5 million tonnes of Australian wheat consignment worth US$33 million created a stir in the wheat market in February, where wheat stockists and flour mill owners kicked the prices up to the levels never witnessed in Pakistan. As flour reached the price level of Rs 20 per kg, people took to the streets in the interior of Sindh. In March, soon after the Australian wheat rejection by the government, wheat was being sold at about Rs 12,000 per tonne against an average wheat price of Rs 10,000 per tonne in December “You can identify the wheat stockists and a group of Karachi flour mills owners who pocketed a whopping Rs 300 crore profit between January and March this year,” acknowledged a Karachi flour mill owner, who had the names of the key profiteers on his finger tips.
A lethal Karnal Bunt virus had been detected in Australian wheat consignment by the MINFAL-run National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) labs in February this year. The Australians challenged the NARC result by requesting that a second test may also be conducted at any world-renowned facility, a request turned down by the government. Surprisingly, it has now been discovered that the government also rejected advice from some of its own experts who pointed out that no virus was detected in the Australian consignment in the separate tests carried out by the experts at Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) armed with state-of-the-art testing equipment.
The government also turned a deaf ear to another test, rejecting Karnal Bunt presence in the wheat, by another renowned Karachi facility called Qualitest, the lab that makes certifications for the government of Pakistan for its wheat export consignments. The certificate issued by the Australian Wheat Board and its testing agency were dealt with abrupt rejection by the MINFAL. After several years of surplus wheat crop in the country, Pakistani officials had anticipated a shortfall of about two million tonnes in the annual demand of about 19 million tonne wheat for the current year. The shortfall early this year caused a major flour crisis all over the country early this year as Pakistanis were forced to buy flour, at times, double the normal price, particularly in Sindh, the worst affected province. The Australian consignment of 15 lakh tonnes of wheat reached Pakistan ports at the peak of wheat demand. In February, commodity analysts expected distribution of the consignment, mostly in Sindh, to calm the flour prices and ease the supply side of wheal till the time Sindh’s own wheat crop hit the market. The dramatic government rejection opened floodgates of profit for wheat hoarders, who apparently had the firm inside information that the Australian wheat would never reach the market, interviews with relevant sources disclosed. MINFAL officials maintain that their rejection of Australian wheat was valid, because the consignment was twice rejected in lab tests, conducted each time at the NARC. The second test at the NARC, MINFAL officials said, was carried out in the presence of Australian experts. Australian experts though have reported that their observations on testing techniques were ignored by the NARC experts and their presence during the test was that of silent witnesses. Australian wheat consignment rejection appears mysterious, more so because shipping documents that have reached Pakistan recently showed that only a week before the rejection of the Australian wheat, the government of Pakistan had accepted 25,000 tonnes of wheat that had reached Pakistan from the same wheat storage facility at the same Australian port of loading. Pakistan had received this wheat consignment from the same Australian source under the World Food Program. 5,000 tonnes of this consignment was distributed in Sindh, while the rest of the consignment went to Balochistan and the NWFP.
The wheat row between Pakistan and Australia had reached the highest levels of the two government in February with Australian Prime Minister John Howard calling President Pervez Musharraf on telephone to seek his personal intervention in the matter, and President Musharraf had referred the matter to Prime Minister Jamali. The rejection of Australian wheat consignment was confirmed in a cabinet meeting where the MINFAL minister Yar Muhammad Rind had made a categorical statement about the presence of deadly Karnal Bunt virus in the Australian wheat, warning the cabinet about the repercussions of spread of infected wheat in the masses.
