Significance of Iranian gas reserves
Kashmala Khan

SINCE the discovery of natural gas reserves in Iran in 1988, the Iranian government began increasing efforts to promote higher gas exports abroad. The prospects for profit are especially high in South Asian countries like India and Pakistan, where natural gas reserves are low and energy demand exceeds energy supply. In 1995, Pakistan and Iran signed a preliminary agreement for construction of a natural gas pipeline linking the Iranian South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf with Karachi, Pakistan’s main industrial port located at the Arabian Sea. Iran later proposed an extension of the pipeline from Pakistan into India. Not only would Pakistan benefit from Iranian natural gas exports, but Pakistani territory would be used as a transit route to export natural gas to India.
The exportation of natural gas from Iran to India through Pakistan is a venture which may change the face of regional politics in South Asia. The potential for economic and developmental gain from natural gas will force India, Iran, and Pakistan to reassess their roles and policies in regional conflicts, like Kashmir, Afghanistan, and national security issues. Furthermore, potential economic collaboration and gain will also lead to a possible transformation of social and political discourse between the countries, perhaps even leading to mediation and resolution of regional conflicts. In this way, the relationship between the pipeline venture and globalization is multidisciplinary. It is not characterized solely by economic factors, even though the current economic realities in Iran, India and Pakistan do foreshadow the future necessity of economic collaboration. The multidisciplinary globalization is changing the face of regional politics and altering the social and political landscape of regions.
Iran contains the world’s second largest natural gas reserves. According to the Oil and Gas journal, Iran contains an estimated 940 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in proven natural gas reserves. Around 62 per cent of Iranian natural gas reserves are located in non associated fields. Iran’s major non associated gas fields include: South Pars (280 - 500 Tcf of gas reserves), North Pars (50 Tcf), Kangan
(29 Tcf), Nar (13 Tcf), and several others. While Iranian natural gas consumption is high, the country desperately needs to promote export markets for gas due to its faltering economy and to meet the demands of modernization. To meet these demands, Iran has targeted emerging regional markets South Asia for natural gas exports. The Iranian government proposed the construction of a pipeline from its South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf to Pakistan’s major cities of Karachi and Multan and then further onto Delhi, India. The pipeline would be 2,700 km long with a 56 inch diameter, and Pakistan will receive the maximum gas of 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) while India will have 3.1 bcfd. Pakistan could earn as much as $500 million in royalties from a transit fee and save $200 million by purchasing cheaper gas from this pipeline project.
The benefits of using natural gas for the energy sector are equally as beneficial for Pakistan as they are for India. Nearly half (49 per cent) of Pakistan’s energy consumption is residential, with the industrial sector attributed with the next highest level of consumption at 33.5 percent. Oil makes up 43.5 per cent of energy consumption and natural gas 38.3 percent. Hydroelectric power is the main source of re-usable energy for domestic use. It generates 40% of all electricity in the country. Most of this hydroelectric power is generated in northern Pakistan. While India has high utilization and supply of coal reserves, Pakistan lacks reserves of top ranked coal, “Anthracite”. This, unlike the case in India, keeps the carbon intensity in the country low. Nevertheless, carbon levels are high due to emissions from vehicles. In 1998, Pakistan’s carbon intensity was 0.47 metric tons of carbon. This is comparable to India at 0.57 and the United States at 0.21. Thus, the proposed pipeline has the potential to promote renewable resource development and improve energy efficiency.
The development of the pipeline interacts with trade, government policies, regionalism, and globalization. The pipeline will provide much needed natural gas to rural communities in both India and Pakistan. Families living in villages who used animal waste for fuel purposes will be able to use natural gas on small portable stoves. For developing rural areas, households can shift from using expensive forms of energy, like coal, oil, and wood, to natural gas which is more economical and environment friendly. Rural communities will be able to continue in their progress towards development by providing cheaper and more sources of energy.
Pakistan strongly believes in creating linkages and inter-dependence to improve cooperation both bilaterally and regionally. It is expected that the pipeline will herald an atmosphere of regional peace and cooperation. With an estimated economic growth rate of 8-9 percent in coming years, India is expected to require 14 billion cubic feet of gas per day by 2025, up from 3.2 billion cubic feet now. The country relies on the outside world for more than 70 percent of its growing energy needs. Similarly, Pakistan’s economy is constantly growing and as such is its energy needs’ on the rise. To ensure sustained growth and development, new resources of energy are required.
The proposed pipeline project is significant in many ways. They range from Social, Political, Multilateral and Economic. As a capital intensive project, the pipeline would generate substantial employment along its route. To safeguard the investment interests and other economic spin-offs, the stakeholders are bound to maintain improved political cooperation. Also, India and Pakistan are increasingly import - dependent for their energy needs. At a time of possible energy crises, an alliance through pipeline for energy security makes good economic sense.
Pakistan and Iran needs to further enhance all-round cooperation to its maximum potential. Pakistan has clearly expressed that it would not interfere in the Iran-US nuclear issue, as it is Iran’s internal affair. However, Pakistan is always ready to provide any help that Iran requires. Pakistan wants peace in the region and so does Iran, a common ground between us to come together and closer. No doubt increased cooperation between the two countries will lead the region to peace and stability. The strength of Iran will be a source of strength for Pakistan, and similarly a developed and prosperous Pakistan will be a source of strength for Iran.



Who is behind the Gujarat killings?
Mamoona Ali Kazmi


According to the Tehelka magazine report the 2002 Gujarat sectarian riots had the “sanction” of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and that many of the accused had admitted this on camera. The killings took place over a few days in February 2002, when Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in Gujarat state. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the violence. The riots were sparked by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims-deaths that Hindu extremists blamed! On Muslims, although the cause of the blaze still remains unclear.
The magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal said at a press conference that it had done a sting operation over the last sixth months by talking to a number of Sang Parivar leaders, including Godhra BJP MLA Haresh Bhatt, Shiv Sena leader Babu Bajrangi, who was earlier in Vishwa Hindu Prishad (VHP), and VHP leaders Anil Patel and Dhawal Jayanti Patel to bring out the truth. Tarun Tejpal said his reporter was posing as a researcher studying the growth of Hindu nationalism. The men told the reporter that Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Narendra Modi had encouraged them to massacre Muslims and prevented police from stopping the killings.
Transcripts of the recordings quote Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi as saying the killing of the Hindus on the train made him feel like killing Muslims and “hacking them apart”. He said, “I am proud of it if I get another chance, I will kill even more”. Bajrangi, who was arrested and then quickly released on bail for his alleged role in the rioting, was also quoted as saying Modi manipulated the legal system to protect the rioters. Bajrangi told that Modi kept on changing judges to ensure his release. A leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rajendra Vyas, reportedly told Tehelka: “As Chief Minister, Narendra bhai (Modi) couldn’t say kill all the Muslims. I could say it publicly because I was from VHP. He gave us a free run to do whatever we wanted to since we were already fed up of the Muslims ... the police was with us”.
Similarly, Godhra BJP MLA Haresh Bhatt was purportedly caught on tape saying he was present in a meeting in which Modi gave him three days time “to do whatever they wanted.” After three days, he (Modi) asked to stop and everything came to a halt.” The magazine claimed Dhawal Jayanti Patel told its undercover reporter that the VHP activists made lots of bombs in a factory owned by him. A BJP MLA was shown as saying they even made rocket launchers, which was used in the pogrom. Tehelka’s story quotes activists of the BJP and affiliated right-wing Hindu groups, such as the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, as saying that bombs were assembled and hundreds of swords collected ahead of the planned violence. The interview of Vithalbhai Pandya, father of the former Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya, disclosed new realities about Modi’s involvement in the Gujarat killings. Vithalbhai Pandya said that his son Haren told Modi to confine the incident to Gogdra itself and not to spread violence in the rest of Gujarat, as that would tear apart the fabric of Indian society and cause irreparable economic, besides human, destruction. But, yet, Modi went ahead, and organized a meeting in Sabarkantha where he’ plotted the genocide of Muslims throughout the state.
The BJP dismissed Tehelka’s story as political manipulation of Congress ahead of Gujarat state elections in December. Some serious-minded secularists such as Congress Party Spokesperson Mohan Prakash feel that the sting operation showing Gujarat pogrom with state support should not have been publicized. The point being made is that this would polarise society and help consolidate the Hindu vote in Modi’s favour. It is not viable to comprehend how gloating about the killing of innocent Muslims will increase Modi’s votes. The Congress is not coming out openly because its approach is political. It is not sure how the Gujarati Hindus would react to it. The party would have reacted differently if it had realized that murder was murder, whatever the fallout of its exposure.
Had the Nanavati-Shah Commission, which was set up to ascertain the truth, submitted its report, Modi would have probably been exposed by this time. But even after five years the inquiry committee is still conducting its investigation. It seems as if the judges are extending their job after retirement. The Commission is turning out to be another Liberhan Commission, which was set up in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. The committee has not submitted even an interim report in the last 15 years. BJP is not a genuine political party at all. It is a gang of a few sophisticated ruffians. These people are hungry for money and power. Their speeches and their actions do not match. They want to spread communal hatred in the name of Hinduism and thereby climb to power. According to the noted scholar Ashish Nandy, Modi shows all signs of being a psychopathic dictator. He, Advani and their likes must be arrested and jailed for their anti-national and anti-constitutional crimes. Modi’s ministry contains so many criminals and ruffians. Modi’s government in Gujarat is being run on lies, oppression and spying. And Gujarat is now engulfed in crime and riots.






Changing into civilian clothes
Lan Xinzhen

WITHOUT a transformation 42 years ago, would there be a brand named “Changhong” in the world? It might be impossible to answer this question. When people use Changhong electric appliances, they might only be aware that these products are from a large international company located in Sichuan Province, southwest China. Many people, including young Changhong employees, know nothing about the transformation of the company four decades ago.
In 1958, the state-run Sichuan Radio Factory was established on the site of today’s Changhong Group. As a military industrial factory, it mainly produced airborne fire control radar. Employees had to accept strict security checks upon entry and exit. In 1965, however, the factory began to produce products for civilian use and its name was changed to the Changhong Machine Factory. Eight years later, the factory developed its first TV set and registered its trademark. Now, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd., a listed company solely initiated and held by Changhong Machine Factory, has become a comprehensive multinational integrating research and development, production, sales and service of TV sets, air conditioners, refrigerators, information technology, telecommunications devices, digital receivers, chips, commercial electronics and components. Gradually, Changhong has become an internationally competitive brand and service supplier of computer, communications and consumer electronics. In 2005, Changhong was named one of the world’s top 500 brands and in early 2007, its brand value was estimated at 58.33 billion yuan ($7.88 billion).
In the past few decades, “switching from military to civilian” has promoted the birth of many large competitive companies in China. 100 billion yuan of output Yu Liegui, Vice Minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (CSTIND), says that the core aim of “switching from military to civilian” is to serve the national economy through utilizing the military technologies and capabilities that have been developed over the years. At a press conference held in Sichuan on November 19, Hu Yafeng, Deputy Secretary General of the CSTIND, said that more than 30,000 advanced military technologies have been adapted for civilian use, creating an output of nearly 100 billion yuan ($13.51 billion). Since many military industrial enterprises are located in Sichuan, it has experienced the brunt of “switching from military to civilian.” Breakthroughs have been made in such industries as nuclear, aviation, photoelectric information and specialty chemical technologies, greatly improving local economic development. According to Hu, the massive production switchover from military to civilian occurred after the late 1970s. As an important part of the state development strategy, the Chinese Government incorporated the transformation into national economic and social development planning. The CSTIND became responsible for directing the transformation.

(The Daily Mail-Beijing Review Articles Exchange Item)