Pondering the pipeline

The issue of the pipeline between Pakistan and Iran appears to be assuming growing dimensions. It has already come to dominate international diplomacy — with the issue again at the top of the agenda as the visiting UK foreign secretary William Hague met his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad. During his talks with Shah Mahmood Qureshi Mr Hague concurred that the $7.6 billion pipeline, agreed on earlier this month with Iran, was essentially an internal matter for Pakistan. However he did not budge, despite efforts from Pakistan, on the idea that Britain backed EU sanctions against Iran as a means to put pressure on the nuclear-armed country. Mr Qureshi had warned new sanctions on the country could be counter-productive and lead to new problems.

Behind the pleasantries of diplomacy, the handshakes, the smiles and the carefully couched dialogue, a bigger issue however looms. While Mr Hague and before him Mr Holbrooke both say the pipeline is an internal matter, we all know that in reality Islamabad is under much pressure to wriggle out of the deal. It is currently attempting to find some means to throw off the pressure piled on to its aching back. Can it do so? We can only wonder.

The fact is that the recent flurry over the pipeline – essential in the eyes of many experts to meeting our energy needs – has left many in the country pondering deep issues. The key one of course is that of Pakistan’s sovereignty and its ability to make decisions for itself and its people. This ability has been undoubtedly compromised by the fact that Islamabad is, at present, deeply dependent on Washington, in terms of politics and economics. For its leaders, the pipeline problem presents an interesting quandary. It has become a kind of test case to see if Islamabad has the tools required to put forward its own case strongly enough and assert its own will over that of its allies as far as the pipeline goes, on the basis of its own needs and the welfare of its people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.