Iran gas pipeline to go ahead: India<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, New Delhi<\/p>\n
India will not be deterred by U.S. opposition to a multi-billion
\ndollar gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan as it is
\nimperative to meet the country's energy growing needs, the
\nforeign minister said in a report on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"Our energy needs are going to increase exponentially in the
\nnext 20 years and there's no other way but to have this kind of
\nan arrangement,\" Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said in an
\ninterview with The Hindu newspaper.<\/p>\n
Negotiations to build the US$4.5 billion gas pipeline from
\nIran to India via Pakistan began in 1994 but little headway was
\nmade because of tensions between Pakistan and India, which have
\nfought three wars since gaining independence in 1947 from
\nBritain.<\/p>\n
But against a backdrop of easing tensions between the nuclear-
\narmed neighbors, Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer said in
\nFebruary he had won cabinet approval for resuming talks on the
\n2,600-kilometer overland pipeline.<\/p>\n
Aiyer also said he would visit Islamabad this month to discuss
\nthe logistics of the pipeline linking Iran's South Pars gas field
\nto India via southwest Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\"Our petroleum minister is going to Pakistan very soon. The
\nearlier impression was that India was the stumbling block. We are
\nnot,\" Singh said.<\/p>\n
The minister said New Delhi would proceed with the project
\ndespite Washington's reservations made known by U.S. Secretary of
\nState Condoleezza Rice during a visit here in March.<\/p>\n
Rice offered talks on energy cooperation with India, which a
\nstate department official later said would encompass civilian
\nnuclear power as well.<\/p>\n
\"It's a recognition that they (India) have enormous energy
\nneeds. Their economy is going fast, they have a huge population,\"
\nthe U.S. official added.<\/p>\n
In the interview with The Hindu, the Indian foreign minister
\nalso said a peace dialogue with Pakistan on their long-running
\ndispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir was showing
\nprogress.<\/p>\n
\"The composite dialogue is going extremely well,\" he said
\nreferring to official talks that resumed early last year.<\/p>\n
\"There is some terrorist activity going on,\" Singh said
\nreferring to an Islamic insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir
\nthat New Delhi says is actively encouraged by Islamabad, a charge
\nPakistan denies.<\/p>\n
\"But the overall India-Pakistan scene looks more promising
\nthan it has done for many decades,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Singh also praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf,
\nsaying that without his \"personal involvement,\" many confidence-
\nbuilding measures, including the resumption of a bus link between
\nthe two zones of Kashmir after a gap of almost 60 years, would
\nnot have been possible.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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