India-Pakistan battle for basmati rice turns acrimonious

Nuclear-armed neighbors' clash over fragrant strain boils over

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A worker fills a sack with rice at a mill on the outskirts of Lahore in Pakistan. © AFP/Jiji

NEETA LAL, Contributing writer

NEW DELHI -- India and Pakistan rarely struggle to find things to fight about, and the true ownership of basmati rice is no exception.

But what's been a long simmering battle between the nuclear-armed neighbors is now boiling over as India's top agricultural science body accuses Pakistan of "illegally" growing copyrighted strains of the staple in South Asian cooking -- and a major export for both countries.

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