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The ‘peace pipeline’, so named to denote the benefits of the gas project
for Iran, Pakistan and the region, has finally seen a beginning on the
Pakistan side. This pipeline, as stated by President Asif Ali Zardari
and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the ground breaking
ceremony at Gabd near the Iran-Pakistan border is indispensible to
eradicate Pakistan’s energy deficit. Though India, one
of the original three partners of the pipeline, has backed out of the
project to gain other benefits from the US (the nuclear power
cooperation agreement), the pipeline still holds promises benefits for
the remaining two partners, Pakistan and Iran, with China a potential
third in times to come. Pakistan has been in dire need of expanding its
energy resources. The indigenous gas reservoirs have depleted over the
years given our mismanagement and unplanned consumption without future
considerations. The economy of the country is functioning below
capacity. Industries are closing down because of insufficient and
interrupted energy supply. The hardest hit sectors have been textiles
and fertilizer. These sectors being the backbone of our economy, one
could imagine the productive loss Pakistan had experienced because of
the troubles of these industries. It is because of this that the
business community has shown jubilation over the implementation of the
project. They are eying a 50 percent increase in production once the
gas is available to industry. For domestic cosumers too it would be a
sigh of relief eventually, since the capacity of the gas received from
Iran will produce 5,000 MW electricity, reducing the energy shortfall
