ISLAMABAD, March 12: Australia has decided to go ahead unilaterally with third-party testing of a disputed wheat consignment, rejected by Pakistan on grounds the wheat is infected by the Karnal Bunt fungus, the Australian High Commission announced here on Friday.
The 150,000 tons of wheat arrived in four ships from Australia.
The decision, contained in a joint statement by the Australian and trade and agriculture ministers released by the High Commission, comes within 24 hours after Australian Prime Minister John Howard sent a letter to President Pervez Musharraf pleading for the same course of action.
An official report submitted to the federal cabinet categorically stated that there was no clause for a third-party testing in the agreement between the buyer and the seller.
"We wrote to the Prime Minister of Pakistan a week ago seeking independent third-party testing of the wheat to settle the matter conclusively. We have heard nothing since," the Australian ministers statement said.
It said Australia would again summon Pakistan's High Commissioner in the country to register strong protest over what it described as Pakistan's "official inaction" over the matter.
"Despite testing samples from a 150,000 tonne consignment of Australian wheat over a week ago to rule out the presence of Karnal bunt fungus, the Pakistan Government have not confirmed the result nor responded to numerous official requests to have the wheat tested by an independent third party," the statement said.
The joint media release of Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile and Agriculture Ministers Warren Truss said: "Australia will now proceed unilaterally to test the wheat at internationally recognised expert laboratories in the United Kingdom and the United States."
It said Australia was confident that this testing would confirm the results of testing already conducted in Australia, New Zealand and the UK "in which Karnal bunt (fungus) was not detected".
Australia said only sophisticated laboratory processes using the latest DNA testing technology and procedures could prove beyond doubt the presence or absence of Karnal bunt.
Australian scientists who participated in testing the wheat were confident the results bore out Australia's position that the consignment was free of the disease, the statement said.
According to the statement, Australia had welcomed an earlier decision by Pakistan to establish a high-level committee to test the wheat but said "unfortunately Pakistan's spirit of cooperation appeared to end there."
