Not worthy of trust

PM mulls Iran trip for pipeline
Ramesh Ramachandran

New Delhi

Aug. 23: The drift in India’s relations with Iran might enable China to source piped natural gas from that country, much like the manner in which China beat India to win the rights to buy natural gas from Burma. China has shown interest in the Iran- Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and, to New Delhi’s consternation, Iran has made it known that it cannot wait indefinitely for India to decide on her participation in the project.

New Delhi has not vigorously pursued the negotiations of the IPI project partly in deference to Washington’s sensitivities. However, India’s preoccupation with strengthening her strategic partnership with the US has almost cost India her military facility in the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, and New Delhi can ill-afford a misadventure on the IPI project. Plans are now afoot to schedule Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Iran for restoring bilateral ties.

Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s visit to India in October will likely prepare the ground for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Iran, possibly by the year-end or early next year. Iran’s ambassador to India, Mr Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh, said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who visited India in April 2008, has invited Prime Minister Singh to visit Iran.

"When Supreme National Security Council Chairman Saeed Jalili and I called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a month before the 2009 Indian elections, he said that if he became Prime Minister, a journey to Iran will be one of his priorities," Mr Nabizadeh told this newspaper. He hoped India would join the IPI project and avoid further delay.

"India did not participate in some of the IPI meetings in Tehran because India wanted to discuss issues such as the transit fee and transportation tariff with Pakistan. Unfortunately the India-Pakistan talks got blocked. In the meantime Iran and Pakistan continued their discussions and signed an agreement. We hope India will not delay participation in the IPI project," he said.

Until recently, New Delhi did not want to be seen doing business with Iran for fear of jeopardising the India-US nuclear deal. Also, it took the position that unless the delivered cost of the gas in India is competitive with other alternative sources, it will not be worthwhile to participate in the project merely for political reasons. However, New Delhi has indicated that a delegation of Indian officials will visit Iran in September to resume discussions on the IPI project.

The talks between India and Iran are stuck on the issue of price. Mr Nabizadeh said the price issue was discussed two years ago but the situation has changed in the interim and it is only natural that the price be revised. A new price needs to be discussed for an LNG deal too, he said.

Prior to his India visit, Mr Mottaki will meet external affairs minister S.M. Krishna on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York in September. They last met in July on the sidelines of the 15th Nam Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Union petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora said in the recently concluded Parliament session that India will not bow to external pressure on participation in the IPI project. Mr Deora said he has clarified India’s stance on participation in the IPI project to US energy secretary Sam Bodman. The energy needs of the country were paramount and there was no question of succumbing to external pressure, he asserted.

Mr Deora’s remarks indicate a shift in New Delhi’s position. Only last year, the Prime Minister’s special envoy, Mr Shyam Saran, had said that the more the IPI project gets invested with political sentiments, the more difficult it becomes for New Delhi to really get an economically viable deal. "We must take the time which it requires in order to ensure that it is [viable and competitive]. Merely to put a political label on the project is not [good]," Mr Saran said.

As India dithers, Iran and Pakistan have gone ahead and signed a deal at Istanbul, Turkey, in May. Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, deputy head (international affairs) of the National Iranian Oil Company and Iran’s special envoy for the pipeline talks, has said that Iranian and Pakistani officials are expected to meet in Islamabad soon to discuss ways of transferring gas and other technical issues.

I have said it once and I will say it a hundred times that Pakistan is not to be trusted.
If some other route is found for it then we can accept it otherwise it is a big NO.
We have two neighbours, China and Pakistan who are both untrustworthy.
China itself is after the Gas supply from Iran.
After the pipe line is laid with Indian money some problem will be fomented by either of these countries and our gas supply will be stopped.
If we were in Pakistan's position we too would act similarly with our enemy since birth.
After all if you remember right, we had stopped Pakistan flights over Indian territory when the Bangladesh war broke out.
Pakistan will do the same and it would be foolish falling into their trap.