Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline

On Mar 3, 2023

Three weeks ago, Iran informed a visiting Pakistani official delegation that the US sanctions on Iran are illegal and Pakistan should construct the gas pipeline in its territory by February-March 2024 as stipulated in their revised agreement.
Iran has already finished a portion of the pipeline in its own territory from the gas field to the Pakistan border, where it should connect to the Pakistan portion.
In September 2019, Pakistan’s Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) and the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) signed a revised agreement for the pipeline’s construction, which stipulates that neither Iran nor Pakistan will take the other to court for delays or impose fines until 2024. The pipeline will allow Pakistan to start receiving 750 million cubic feet of gas from Iran daily once the pipeline is completed and commissioned.
The Public Accounts Committee has been told by the Ministry of Petroleum that if the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project is not completed, Pakistan is likely to be fined 18 billion dollars. The US has been asked to review the ban on obtaining gas from Iran. PAC directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the American Ambassador in this regard.
Chairman Public Accounts Committee Noor Alam said that America should give us relief of 18 billion dollars or allow the implementation of the agreement. It was revealed in the meeting that 325 billion rupees have been received as gas infrastructure development cess but 2 billion have been spent, 322 billion rupees are lying but the project is not running.
On Wednesday, the PAC meeting was held in Parliament House under the chairmanship of Chairman Committee Noor Alam Khan. The meeting was attended by the officers of the relevant government institutions including the members of the committee
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project was conceived years back and initially, India was also its part but it withdrew later on due to differences on various issues. The project cannot be completed due to sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.S. due to Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Pakistan is a sovereign state. It should be free to deal with other states in its all internal and external matters. US should not impose ban on Pakistan as it is a direct threat to our existence and interference in our internal matters. The president Arif Alvi should summon a joint session of the parliament where the government and the opposition benches should give a befitting response to US sanctions.