ISLAMABAD: Amid fears of possible sanctions being imposed by Washington, Pakistan has decided to hire the services of international legal experts to seek opinion on effects of prospective US sanctions, in case it went ahead with the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project.
The decision to hire legal experts was taken at a high level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday.
The meeting was convened to review the energy situation in the country, expand the power generating capacity of the existing electricity infrastructure and explore alternate energy sources.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh, Minister of Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Finance Secretary Abdul Wajid Rana, and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeem ul Haq.
The possibility of US sanctions against Pakistan was discussed, one of the participants of the meeting told The Express Tribune.
He said that the government wanted to explore the possible effects of sanctions if it refused to bow to the pressure exerted by Washington.
“We have discussed the option of materialising the IP gas project with assistance from Russia and China,” the participant said.
The prime minister was informed that a delegation of Pakistanis would soon depart for Russia to negotiate with Russian energy giant Gazprom to materialise the pipeline project.
He also directed the ministries of water and power and petroleum to ensure that load shedding was minimised, and further efforts be made to provide relief to the public and the industry from the ongoing power crisis.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (14)
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Any other country would hire these experts BEFORE they made the decision - but Pakistan has already said it's going ahead with the IP so good is this advise now?
It is totally condemnable, I have no idea why pakistani government want to commit suicide.
@dilu:
"Tribune why You have not shown Kashmir as part of Pakistan. "
I am surprised that most Pakistanis don't know that according to Pakistan constitution, Kashmir is not officially part of Pakistan. Pakistan diligently keeps Kashmir as disputed territory in order not to negate UN resolutions. Once Pakistan officially annexes Kashmir, it can no longer invoke the UN resolutions. This was explained by Musharraf's lady press secretary in a press meeting in Islamabad. I forget her name.
ET is doing the right thing by not including Kashmir in the map of Pakistan.
Kashmir is not stated as a part of Pakistan in its constitution which mentions four states, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.
I urge ET to delete the parts of Gilgit-Baltistan also from the map of Pakistan to represent Pakistan's stated policy in its constitution.
where is kashmir? this is not a complete map. why u people are showing that kashmir is not our part. u people r not doing good.
Shame on ET for praising India by publishing wrong map of Pakistan. It seems ET is an Indian news website.
Why not consider India's offer of gas supply.More cost effective as well.
@saqib: Most maps are created with accuracy in mind.
What kind of Pakistnai map is being shown here?
Tribune why You have not shown Kashmir as part of Pakistan. I dont think any Indians news paper will ever make such a mistake. I know you are funded by International Herald Tribune (New york times) but still please dont hurt the sentiments of Pakistanis.
why Pak map is devoid of Kashmir? Is the newspaper one of ours?
Pakistan Should keep all the avenues open and should think about her sovereignity first. In the global arena, only those countries succeed who keep the diplomacy on the table but keep their interests supereme.