Pak backs gas pipeline project with India

Islamabad,: Pakistan's prime minister on Monday gave strong backing for a transnational gas pipeline that would also supply arch rival India, saying it would foster ``an enduring relationship'' between the two countries.

India's petroleum and natural gas minister is currently visiting Islamabad for talks with Pakistani officials on proposed billion-dollar pipelines that would feed natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to India, via Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said after meeting with the Indian minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, that a pipeline would ``create linkages and interdependencies for establishing an enduring relationship between the two countries.''

``The prime minister expressed the hope that both India and Pakistan will work closely and give top priority so that the details of the pipeline project can be completed as early as possible,'' a statement issued by Aziz's office said.

A nascent peace process between India and Pakistan _ enemies in three wars since independence in 1947 _ has led to the talks on what would be by far the biggest economic cooperation project yet between the two neighbors.

The US$4 billion (euro3.3 billion) pipeline from Iran, first proposed by Tehran in 1996, has never gotten off the ground, largely because of India's concern for the security of the pipeline in Pakistan.

The other proposed pipeline from Turkmenistan has also been hampered by instability in Afghanistan, whose territory it would also have to pass through.

But Aiyar said he was confident the project would be launched in early 2006.

``We would like to get this project in some significance sense off the ground by the beginning of the new year,'' he said.

Aiyar was due to meet with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday when a joint statement was expected to be issued.

On Sunday, Jadoon assured Aiyar that Pakistan would take ``requisite security measures'' to provide security to the proposed pipeline in Pakistan.

India wants to import gas to meet the growing energy needs of its rapidly expanding economy, and Pakistan, which would also have access to the gas, would earn transit fees from a pipeline passing through its territory to India.

The United States has voiced opposition to the pipeline from Iran. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Iran and wants to keep international pressure on the Tehran regime over its nuclear program.

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