Dubai, Aug 27: Pakistan has set up a task force to monitor and pursue the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, news reports said.
A decision to this effect was taken in the wake of reports that Russia has offered technical help to India if the latter agrees to lay the pipeline on the Arabian Sea bed instead of its passage through Pakistan, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) of Iran said, quoting reports in the Pakistani media.
“Though it is an extremely expensive project to lay a pipeline on the sea bed, yet an agreement among Iran, India and Russia cannot be ruled out because of the Indian government’s reservations on earlier proposal of laying the pipeline through the Pakistani territory,” a leading Pakistani daily was quoted as saying.
It said ''both Iran and India know very well that the laying of the pipeline on the bed of the sea will cost many times more than the on-ground facility. Besides, there may be some technical faults even after having the pipeline operative''.
A senior official in the Pakistani Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was quoted as saying Pakistan was ready to address India's security concerns with regard to the pipeline. ''Pakistan is ready for talks with India to allay its fears regarding the security of the pipeline,'' he said.
The gas pipeline project has been hanging fire for quite sometime because of India's concern over the proposal to establish the pipeline via Pakistan.
External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, during his visit to Teheran in May, had categorically told the Iranian leaders that there was no way India could agree to the proposal to establish the pipeline via Pakistan unless certain fundamental issues were addressed.
Physical security of the proposed pipeline, assured supply of gas and the question of no country having arbitrary or unilateral control to turn off the energy source are among the security considerations, which make India wary of the Iranian proposal. India and Iran have since decided to set up a joint working group with technical experts to examine various options for the establishment of the pipeline.
—UNI
