The Hindu : National : India keen on transit rights as part of pipeline deal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004

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National

India keen on transit rights as part of pipeline deal

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, OCT. 12. India wants transit rights to Afghanistan and Iran through Pakistan as part of an agreement on a gas pipeline project, highly-placed sources in South Block told The Hindu.

"In turn, we are willing to allow [the] Pakistanis transit rights through India into Bangladesh," the sources said. They were asked if India was willing to look at the gas pipeline project on a "stand alone" basis.

They were clear that India was looking at the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project positively, but wanted access for Indian goods through Pakistan into both Afghanistan and Iran. In the larger scheme, New Delhi believes these routes will take Indian goods into Central Asia as well.

On official agenda

For the first time, the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is on the official, bilateral agenda of discussions between New Delhi and Islamabad. The joint statement issued by the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and India on September 8 had "recognised the importance of availability and access to energy resources in the region around South Asia."

"The Ministers of Petroleum/Gas could meet to discuss the issue in its multifarious dimensions," the statement issued by Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri had said.

The pipeline also figured in the September 24 talks between the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"The possibility of a gas pipeline via Pakistan to India was also discussed. It was felt that such a project could contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the people of both countries and should be considered in the larger context of expanding trade and economic relations between India and Pakistan," the joint statement read out by Gen. Musharraf stated. Though the details of the conversation between Gen. Musharraf and Dr. Singh are still not known, it was clear that the two leaders had been able to strike a rapport, with the Prime Minister going to the extend of stating that September 24 was a "historic day."

"We have made a new beginning and I feel confident that despite the difficulties on the way, I and President Musharraf will together work and succeed in writing a new chapter in the history of our two countries," Dr. Singh added in brief remarks to the press.

The fact that the two leaders were able to situate the pipeline in the "larger context of expanding trade and economic relations" between the two countries is also being seen as a positive development as far as the future of the project is concerned.

MFN status

In the past, Pakistan had taken the view that though it favoured the pipeline — the project was not linked to granting India the most-favoured nation (MFN) status in order to have normal trading relations.

It appears that though New Delhi is not insisting on MFN status, it will negotiate for linking the gas pipeline project with the larger issue of transit. Also, India is telling the Pakistanis that the transit will not be one-sided — if Indian goods can flow to Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistani goods can cross Indian territory into Bangladesh.

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