ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday it had decided to initiate work on an 80-kilometer-long segment of the Pakistan-Iran pipeline, with “no room for any objections” from a third party like the United States since the project was being constructed within Pakistani territory.
The $7.5-billion project for 2,775-kilometer (1,724 mi) pipeline has faced repeated delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran’s giant South Pars gas field to consumers in energy-hungry Pakistan and India.
Pakistan has pursued the pipeline as a way of alleviating severe energy shortages that have crippled the economy. At the same time, Islamabad badly needs the billions of dollars it receives in aid from the United States, which has steadfastly opposed the project, saying it could violate sanctions imposed on Iran over nuclear activities Washington suspects are aimed at developing an atom bomb. Iran denies this.
On February 23, Pakistan approved construction of part of the pipeline amid fears of a potential $18 billion penalty for failing to complete the project on time.
“The cabinet of Pakistan decided, a few days ago, to start work on 80 kilometers of Pakistan-Iran pipeline, and this is the beginning of construction of the pipeline and it is in conformity with our commitment to the Iran-Pakistan pipeline,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, foreign office spokesperson, said at a weekly briefing on Thursday, in response to a question on whether Islamabad had contacted Washington on the decision to begin constructing the pipeline.
“And since this pipeline is being constructed inside Pakistani territory, we do not believe there is room for any objections by any third party at this stage.”
India, unlike Pakistan, quit the project in 2009, citing costs and security issues — a year after it signed a nuclear deal with Washington.
Pakistan, for its part, has made little progress on its section of the line for lack of funds and warnings it could be in violation of US sanctions on Iran, which sits on the world’s largest reserves of gas. Iran has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly completed the 900-km (560 mile) pipeline to the Pakistan border.
WAR IN GAZA
Speaking on the situation in Gaza, Baloch said Pakistan welcomed the extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held on Wednesday in Jeddah, and supported CFM’s “strong condemnation” of Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territory.
Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinian men, women, and children since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while over 72,100 Palestinians have been injured in the war, which Israel refuses to call off despite growing calls from Muslim states, the United Nations, and global peace activists.
“The CFM has held the occupying power fully responsible for the ongoing genocide of civilians in Gaza and we join their call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of Israeli aggression and the provision of unimpeded and adequate humanitarian, medical, and relief programs,” the spokesperson said, adding that Pakistan had also called for the provision of water and electricity and the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver urgent aid.
“As we move toward the holy month of Ramadan, we call for urgent relief to the people of Palestine and unrestricted access to Palestinians to pray in the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque,” she added.
Baloch said Pakistan believed that the UN Security Council was mandated under the UN Charter to play its role in bringing an end to Israeli aggression.
“We have been engaged with all members of the United Nations Security Council and we have urged them to play their part in bringing an end to this atrocity,” she added.
The spokesperson said the main hurdle in the provision of assistance was Israeli authorities who had closed the normal routes for the provision of assistance, including the Rafah border.
Baloch said Pakistan has sent six shipments of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, five of them through the Rafah border and one which was airdropped with the help of Jordanian authorities.
“Our assistance has been in the form of medicines, tents, and food,” she added.
