India is finally seeing sense. It is good for Iran, Pakistan and India.
http://www.reuters.com/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=businessNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7696873
**Iran, India, Pakistan push pipeline project **
Tue February 22, 2005 5:08 PM GMT+05:30
By Tahir Ikram and Kamil Zaheer
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Having persuaded India to join plans for a cross-border gas pipeline, Iran and Pakistan kept up diplomatic momentum on Tuesday to make the long talked about $4 billion project a reality. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz went to Tehran with high expectations of “substantial progress” on the scheme, while Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was in New Delhi, expecting to sign a memorandum of understanding with India. “We are convinced that the Iran-India pipeline through Pakistan will benefit all three countries and substantially improve political and economic relations between India and Pakistan,” Kharrazi told a foreign policy think tank in New Delhi.
A pipeline would earn Pakistan millions of dollars from transit fees, but more importantly it will create an economic bond with nuclear rival India, with which it has fought three wars. During talks in Islamabad last week to push along a year-old peace process, India signalled it was willing “to look at” the project, dubbed “the peace pipeline”, subject to security considerations. Pakistan’s Aziz, who is also finance minister, has championed the need for stronger economic ties with India to normalise relations, and was upbeat as he headed to Iran.
“In my view, there will be substantial progress on the gas pipeline project during this trip,” he told state television before leaving on a three-day visit. “Our effort is that Iran, Pakistan and India should take this project forward. Our energy needs are increasing and if we get gas from abroad, it will benefit the economy,” said Aziz. India will want assurances from Islamabad that Pakistan will be a good neighbour in the future and that militant tribesmen in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan will pose no threat to a pipeline running through their territory.
Baluch tribals attacked production facilities in Pakistan’s biggest gas field last month, disrupting supplies to the rest of the country for several days. “Naturally there are concerns and difficulties in a project like this, but all problems are surmountable,” strategic analyst and retired Pakistani general Kamal Matinuddin told Reuters. The other security issue that could play a role is the increasing tension between the United States and Iran over its alleged covert nuclear weapons programme. Aziz made no reference to the row between Pakistan’s main ally, Washington, and its fellow Islamic western neighbour, but analysts said the subject is bound to come up. Pakistan supports European efforts to reach a negotiated settlement. Pakistan also says Iran should be allowed to develop nuclear capability for peaceful means although the scientist credited with building Pakistan’s own nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, last year admitted selling nuclear secrets to Iran as well as to Libya and North Korea.