The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday said the government was wasting time on a costly and highly uncertain Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project while ignoring the only viable option of importing gas from Iran.
America is opposing Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project to counter Tehran's influence while throwing full weight behind TAPI to benefit western multinational companies that enjoy control over Dauletabad gas reserves, it said. Increasing stakes of American elite in the oil and gas giants has become a threat to stability of many countries, said Dr Murtaza Mughal, President of the PEW.
He said that the US policies had been damaging Pakistan while "our government seems reluctant to move forward with a plan to import natural gas from Iran despite knowing that there is no proper substitute available".
Dr Mughal said that the performance of local oil and gas exploration and production companies remained unsatisfactory while efforts to import LNG could not be materialised.
He said that the proposed TAPI, if materialised, might not help Pakistan in the long run as it was a part of US hidden agenda behind war on terror which could be best described in two words - oil and gas. The November 25 statement of US Ambassador to Pakistan in which he opposed Iran gas pipeline and supported gas import from Turkmenistan was contrary to the facts and our interests, he observed.
Dr Mughal said that Pakistan could not ignore global energy giant Iran, on the cost of its economy, to fulfil objectives of controversial US foreign policy.
He said that the top government functionaries in Islamabad were assuring everybody that the Iran gas plans remained unchanged but the facts appeared otherwise. Peace pipeline was a practical idea in comparison to unfeasible TAPI which would cross Afghanistan's Southern regions, he noted. The weak, inefficient and corrupt Karzai administration might not be capable of taking care of the mega project, he feared.
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