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India, Pakistan and Iran defying America on Gas Pipeline?
India, Pakistan and Iran all are together planning to go ahead with the Gas Pipe Line connecting Iran with India through Pakistan is spite of American telling all parties not to do so.
According to media sources, Standing up to the US, Pakistan has said it is aware it faces sanctions if it goes ahead with the Iran-India gas pipeline but cannot abandon the project due to the economic benefits it will bring.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice at their meeting last week that his country would earn up to $600 million a year from the pipeline, against the $700 million a year Islamabad receives from Washington.
"Rice, who has publicly opposed the project, reiterated Washington's position that the proposed pipeline, which will be bringing Iranian gas to India through Pakistan, is against US laws," Dawn reported on Monday.
The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) forbids more than $20 million of investment in Iranian oil and gas projects. The violator can be deprived of US economic assistance and may also face sanctions.
During the meeting Friday, Rice is believed to have argued that even if the US administration gave up its opposition to the pipeline, there were powerful groups in the Congress, media and academia that would continue to oppose the project and that this could ultimately impact Washington's relations with Islamabad.
Pakistan is hoping India will partner the project. At a meeting here with visiting Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, President Pervez Musharraf said Islamabad would guarantee the security of the pipeline through this country and that he would like work on it to begin next year.
The pipeline will also create a major industrial infrastructure in Pakistan and generate new jobs, Kasuri argued.
He also pointed out that the pipeline will have a major political impact on South Asia and will add a huge economic incentive to the ongoing India-Pakistan peace process.
Rice is believed to have urged Kasuri to look at other options like a pipeline from Qatar or from Turkmenistan.
Kasuri replied that bringing gas from Qatar would double the costs, while reserves in Turkmenistan are still unproven.
"Wary of the obvious consequences of annoying America, Pakistan is trying to convince the Americans that it will not be violating any US law by agreeing to build the Iranian gas pipeline," Dawn said.
"Pakistanis say that they will not make any investment in Iran's oil infrastructure that ILSA forbids. The Iranian side of the project will be financed entirely by Iran and a group of multi-national investors Iran will be required to put together.
"Pakistan's investment into the project will start only after the pipeline reaches Pakistani territory," Dawn said.
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