Iran, Pakistan praised for keeping gas deal alive
By IANSWednesday, October 27, 2010
ISLAMABAD - India has backtracked from the tri-nation gas pipeline deal under US pressure but credit goes to Iran and Pakistan for keeping the project alive, Dawn said in an editorial Wednesday.
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project has fallen because of the US’s insistence that commercial transactions with Tehran amount to a violation of the UN, US and EU sanctions against Iran, it said.
Indias withdrawal under American pressure complicated the matter and seemed to jeopardise the entire project.
However, it goes to the credit of the regimes in Islamabad and Tehran that they have managed to keep the project alive, Dawn said.
Along with terrorism, a sinking economy is Pakistans biggest problem, and without addressing the acute energy crisis it would be futile to hope for an economic turnaround.
Against this background one should welcome the report by an international task force because it seems to realise the vital role gas from Iran could play in stabilising Pakistans energy situation.
Prepared by the Asian Development Bank and water and power ministry with representatives of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, the task force recommended fast-track cross-border pipelines to meet its grave energy crisis.
