New Delhi, June 16
The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline talks seem to have nearly been stalled with the Centre bucking under the US pressure asking the oil ministry to go slow on further negotiations. In addition to this, India has on various occasions created hindrances in the deal like raising security issues and asking for third party certification of reserves. The meeting of oil ministers of the three countries that was to take place this month has been postponed and fresh date has not been pencilled as yet, sources in the government say.
Visit of external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on July 29 to Tehran is being viewed as a consensus-building meeting by the three nations, including the Left parties back home.
However, sources in the government say this is a meeting to appease the Left parties, who are exerting pressure on the government to sign the deal as they want to please the Muslim minority as the election nears. It is very clear that the government would either bow to the US pressure and get the deal or buckle under the Left’s pressure and go ahead with the pipeline deal, sources add.
Congress leaders admitted that New Delhi’s slow motion on the issue has created resentment among a section of the Muslim community, particularly the Shiites. Iran’s Ambassador to India had said in April that Tehran hoped to finalise the $7.4-billion IPI pipeline deal with India and Pakistan by mid-year. Iran and Pakistan had announced in March that they had ironed out hurdles delaying the 2,600-km scheme but no progress has been made after that.
What really will be at stake if the deal does not go through is the other interests that ONGC Videsh have in Iran, government sources state. There is fear that India’s investment in the region could also be met with a roadblock. The Farsi offshore block is an exclusive consortium of Indian companies OVL, IOC and OIL.
With India, Pakistan and Iran failing to resolve their differences, the 45-day deadline to sort out the “safety and security issues” concerning the project has expired. It is a matter of time that the Chinese move into fray and take the matter in their hands, sources say. China had evinced interest to join the pipeline during the visit of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to Shanghai in December 2007.
