The Hindu : International / India & World : Kasuri offers guarantees on gas line to India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

International

International - India & World

Kasuri offers guarantees on gas line to India

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 28. Pakistan has once again invited India to be part of the proposed gas pipeline, from Iran, traversing through its landscape.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, reiterated the offer with promises of guarantees on the safety aspects after a meeting with the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, this afternoon.

The proposed pipeline, Iran's nuclear stand-off with the United States and the European Union and bilateral matters were high on the agenda of Dr. Kharrazi in the course of his two-day stay.

The stated position of Pakistan on the pipeline is that it would go ahead with the project whether or not India wanted to be on board.

It is immediately not clear as to why it is not going ahead with the project as India has made it known that it could consider the pipeline only as part of larger economic relations with Pakistan. Implied in the suggestion is the demand that Pakistan reciprocates the gesture of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and normalise trade relations.

Different view

Mr. Kasuri took a different view vis-à-vis the project.

Appealing to India to seriously consider joining the pipeline the Minister told The Hindu "we have collected a lot of baggage. Pakistan's offer to India on the pipeline is different from its earlier stand of no trade with India without resolution of Kashmir. There is a definite thought behind it. We believe it is the interest of India, Pakistan and Iran that the project becomes a reality."

Option

According to Indian officials, New Delhi could explore other options.

One idea being considered is India paying directly to Iran for the gas supplied through the project and leaving the nitty-gritty of execution of the project in Pakistan or any other route to Tehran.

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