ISLAMABAD: US pressure will not affect internal affairs of Iran and Pakistan and the gas pipeline project between the two countries will be completed by 2014, Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad declared on Thursday. Addressing a press conference, the Iranian president who is visiting Pakistan for attending D-8 Summit, also lashed out against the US and Israel for their policies in the region.
When he was asked if there was any US pressure on Pakistan to shelve the gas pipeline project, he said that Iran and some other countries had offered to invest in the project on the Pakistani side of the border. "I can't see that US pressure will shelve the project being undertaken by the two countries, which is purely their internal matter...but Americans are in the habit of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries for their monetary gains. They (Americans) with their long hands and tongues want to empty the pockets of others," he remarked.
He said that the US should realise that 180 million Pakistanis were against Washington's interference in the country's internal affairs. Both the countries, Ahamadinejad asserted, "will complete the Iran-Pakistan (gas pipeline) project with the determination of the people and the governments of the two countries." He said that work on the project was quickly progressing with gas pipeline being laid on the Iranian side.
He also offered to provide 1,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan, helping Islamabad overcome the power shortage. On the issue of Palestine, he suggested that the issue could be resolved permanently if Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria sat together and decided that the Zionists should leave the occupied region.
"There is no need for war to resolve the Palestine issue...one very secret thing I am going to share with you is...the Zionists are very cowardly people. Even Hizbollah and Hamas defeated them with little or no arms," he maintained. He said that the issue could also be resolved if free, fair and transparent elections were held in Palestine. "They don't want free elections in Palestine, as they know the outcome of the polls, if polls were held in transparent manner," he added.
Responding to another question about Holocaust, Ahamadinejad said that there was "no truth in Holocaust, it has nothing to do with Palestine, but Europe and its allies staged a 'drama' to usurp resources of the region". He said that the issue of Palestine was an international one and the world should stand against the designs of the Zionist regime, as "they are against the comity of the nations. End to Zionism is in everybody's interest."
Commenting on terrorism in Pakistan, the Iranian president said that Pakistan's enemies did not want to see a prosperous Pakistan. Urging the people of Pakistan to forge unity to foil their enemies' designs, he said: "Some western powers want to destabilise Pakistan, as they don't want Pakistan to be among the developed nations."
Praising the people of Pakistan, he said that they were hardworking, intelligent and understood the nefarious designs of their enemies. He expressed the hope that terrorism would soon end with the united efforts of the Pakistani people. About Israeli threats against Iran, he termed Israel a fake regime, saying that threats to wage a war on the Iranian nation were "just childish and hollow".
Answering a question by a British journalist on cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, the Iranian president said: "Cease-fire is good and war is bad". Commenting on the recent release of Afghan Taliban by Pakistan, Ahamadinejad said that Iran wouldl endorse the co-operation between Afghanistan and Pakistan which was aimed at bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan.