"Ah, so what can we offer the world?"
"We can act as conduits for transporting gas, oil, and electricity."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Every time any of our leadership is abroad they always offer to carry gas, oil or electricity from country A to country B."
"Right we want to take advantage of the fact that we are bang in the middle of an oil rich Central Asia/Iran, and an energy deficient South Asia."
"True but India doesn't trust us and it is highly unlikely that it will sign any energy protocol with us which would allow us to turn off the taps as and when we choose."
"But why can't we get someone to broker an agreement. I mean the Indus Water Treaty was honoured even when India and Pakistan were at war."
"That's certainly true but if this dream of our leadership hasn't been fulfilled for the past twenty years it is unlikely to be fulfilled in the near future. Now Musharraf has offered the Chinese access to Iranian energy through Pakistan, an energy source that incidentally the US is opposed to - a critical factor in our failure to tap this source in spite of our great shortages I imagine."
"Musharraf is disturbed these days and knows not what he says."
"But he must know that China has developed significant ties with the energy surplus Central Asian Republics and it borders several of these countries so Iran as a source may not be all that attractive for China in the near future."
"As I said you will have to excuse Musharraf, he has only just returned to a country that seems not to be listening to him any more."
"I see so our leaders keep saying the same thing over and over: let us be the conduits for transporting anyone's surplus energy to anyone with deficient energy."
"Right that is how the cookie crumbles but the 'anyone' remains elusive."