Wheat being shipped to Karachi claimed for Bangla
SINGAPORE, JAN. 6-A Bangladesh envoy here sought today to halt 7,800 tons of American wheat from being shipped to West Pakistan on grounds that it was originally intended for delivery in Bangladesh, reports UPI.
Mr. A. W. Shamsul Alam, a former Pakistani diplomat who changed his loyalty to Bangladesh last month, told newsmen an investigation should be made before the ship carrying the wheat was allowed to leave Singapore for Karachi.
The ship, Wing An, with the disputed wheat aboard, was shutting the cargo to shore from a mothership in the port of Chittagong on December 4 when it fled the region following air strikes on ships and the port by Indian aircraft during the recent India Pakistan war.
Mr. Alam said that the wheat on Wing An and more goods aboard four other ships in Singapore, were apparently intended for the Bangladesh flood and cyclone victims when those were diverted to Singapore because of the war.
A spokesman for the Pakistan High Commission however said that the wheat was acquired in a “commercial transaction” from the USA by the Pakistan Government. He said since conditions made it impossible to deliver the wheat to “East Pakistan”, “it is perfectly in order for the ship to sail to Karachi”.
Bangladesh sources said that the dispute was further complicated by the fact that 14 of the Wing And crew were Bengalis and had said that they would sign off the ship rather than sail it to Karachi.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 07.01.1972