Roundtable: Experts say Pak-Iran gas pipeline vital for Pakistan

Say good relations among neighbours critical for peace, development

ISLAMABAD: International relations experts have said good relations between Pakistan and Iran are vital for regional peace, stability, and economic growth.

Speaking at a roundtable conference on Pak-Iran relations organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on Wednesday, they said the two countries should overcome challenges in the way at the earliest.

Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies Senior Research Fellow Ghani Jafar, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad Chairman Ambassador (retd) Khalid Mahmood, and a number of diplomats and researchers attended the session.

The participants discussed challenges in Pak-Iran ties in view of regional and global politics and called for removing apprehensions in bilateral relations, illegal trade and smuggling, drug trafficking and the perceived competition between Gwadar and Chabahar ports. Relationship of both the countries with Saudi Arabia, the US, and India also came under discussion.

The experts looked at the subject through the spheres of security, politics, economy, culture, sectarian conflicts, anti-state elements in Balochistan and Iran’s perceptions of Pakistan’s relations with the US.

They lamented low bilateral trade and absence of cultural exchanges or people-to-people contact despite the two countries having historical social, cultural, linguistic, ethnic and religious linkages.

The Pak-Iran gas pipeline project, with its projected extension to India and China, was termed one of the potential areas to capitalise upon on war footings. They stressed that Pakistan was in dire need of energy and it is in its interest to go ahead with the project without paying heed to the US sanctions on Iran or other regional pressures.

The south eastern Iranian port of Chabahar was also discussed at length in the sitting. The speakers said that though the project was still at a very rudimentary stage, it held great trade potential for Iran. They, however, did not see it posing threat to the port of Gwadar which had its own significance and strengths as a deep sea port.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2014.