July 16, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 19, 1427

ISLAMABAD, July 15: Following the poor response from the relevant ministries, the growers association has appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to take up the super Basmati issue with the Indian authorities.

"Basmati growers appeal for your timely decision to take the issue to the dispute settlement body at the WTO against Indian attempts to undermine the returns of Basmati growers and national earnings. Basmati growers are committed to safeguarding their rights with your guidance and support," said Basmati Growers Association (BGA) President Hamid Malhi in a letter to President Musharraf.

According to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Dawn, the association informed President Musharraf that the Indian decision of allowing official export of super Basmati, which was a pure Pakistani hybrid, was a matter of great concern for the domestic Basmati growers whose livelihoods were at stake, since they were totally dependent on the returns from Basmati along with having historical traditions and sentiments attached to Basmati cultivation.

The association president alleged that the act was planned to deceive the consumers into believing that super Basmati was also a produce of India, although it had been refused registration under the Seed Act of India.

Pakistan’s ministries of commerce and agriculture had taken up the issue ever since, but as it involved relations with India the matter would be decided at the highest level, Mr Malhi added.

“The Indian design to capture Pakistan’s international trading advantage by notifying super Basmati for exports through its ministry of commerce is an outright infringement of our Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and also falls in the ambit of unfair competition under the TRIPS Agreement and the Paris Convention, to which both India and Pakistan are signatories,” he remarked.

Basmati rice earnings increased by 20 per cent in 2005-06 to around Rs30 billion through exports of 0.823 million tons. Super Basmati rice constituted nearly 90 per cent of total Basmati exports and contributed Rs90 billion to agriculture production.

The BGA president pointed out that similar litters were also sent to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to seek their support as well on the issue, which would likely to affect Pakistan’s export of the commodity to the European Union and the Middle East.

The Indian commerce ministry on May 24 this year included super Basmati in the list of their officially allowed exportable products from India. Super Basmati was developed around 15 years ago in Pakistan and already registered in the seed act.