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Pakistan accuses India of delaying Iranian pipeline
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has accused India of adopting delaying tactics with regard to the gas pipeline project involving the two countries and Iran."India was playing tactics with Pakistan to delay the signing of a gas sale-purchase agreement" between Islamabad and Tehran, government sources were quoted as saying by Daily Times on Friday. The sources said Pakistan had been "inviting India to hold the talks for settling the issue of transit fee for gas transportation but the latter has never responded". They further claimed that Pakistan had offered to hold talks on the transit fee in Islamabad on February 7, but India neither declined its offer nor officially confirmed the arrival of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora till February 6 to the concerned Pakistani authorities. The sources said the gas purchase agreement was ready to be signed by Pakistan and Iran as the Pakistani Law Ministry had already vetted the draft of the pact. Pakistan and Iran may sign the agreement in Tehran in the last week of February, they said. The sources said Iran had proposed February 24 as the date for signing of the agreement after the general election in Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan had proposed the signing of the pact in Abu Dhabi on January 25 but Tehran turned down this suggestion. Iran told Pakistan that it wanted to sign the agreement in Tehran after a new elected government was installed in Islamabad. Posted by: john frum 2008-02-08 |
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