Pakistan to go ahead with Iran gas pipeline sans India: PM

DUBAI—Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has asserted that Islamabad would go ahead with the gas pipeline with Iran even if New Delhi drops out of the project and that the Kashmir issue is central to bilateral ties with India.
In a candid discussion with visiting Iranian media here, Mr Aziz said the Indians have expressed security concerns over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. ‘’We do not think there is any problem. Pipelines exist all over the world,’’ he said explaining that Pakistan has one of the largest networks of gas pipelines in the developing world. Pakistan needs the gas and is looking at four options: Qatar by under the sea, Iran by land, Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and LNG, he told the Iranian journalists, whose visit was arranged by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.
Mr Aziz said: ‘’We want this pipeline from Iran, even if India doesn’t want it. I have been pushing it from day one. This pipeline will still work even without India.’’ About Kashmir, he said the visit of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Pakistan was a turning point in rebuilding ties, but the contentious issue of Kashmir’s future remained. Pakistan needs the gas and is looking at four options: Qatar by under the sea, Iran by land, Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and LNG, he told the Iranian journalists, whose visit was arranged by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.
Mr Aziz said: ‘’We want this pipeline from Iran, even if India doesn’t want it. I have been pushing it from day one. This pipeline will still work even without India.’’ About Kashmir, he said the visit of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Pakistan was a turning point in rebuilding ties, but the contentious issue of Kashmir’s future remained. ‘’We believe the core issue between the two countries is Kashmir, which should be settled in line with the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people,’’ Mr Aziz said. Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri people are the stakeholders and all of them should get together to find a solution, he said. ‘’We want peace with everybody, including India. We do not want to be in an arms race with anybody. We want to grow our relations but the improvement in relations will have to move in tandem with progress over the issue of Kashmir. The two have to go together,’’ Mr Aziz emphasized.—Online