A fresh proposal for the Iran-India gas pipeline

Keeping in view India's reservations about the proposed Iran-India gas pipeline running through Pakistan and giving Islamabad arbitrary control over it, Teheran has made a fresh proposal to New Delhi that an international consortium be asked to take over the long-delayed project. The proposal was made by Iranian deputy foreign minister Moahmmed-Hossein Adeli while discussing the issue with his Indian interlocutors during his recent visit to New Delhi.
Regional political factors will no longer pose any threat to the steady flow of Iran's natural gas to India, Adeli reportedly told Indian officials. The plan outlined by Teheran does not only envisage a foreign consortium being the link between the two countries but also buying gas from Iran and selling it to India for a period of 30 years.
The Iranian leader also told the Indian officials that the consortium would bear the entire responsibility for any possible disruption of supplies by Pakistan. It was noted that although India was in need of increased energy resources for its economic growth, it had been so far reluctant to give the green signal to the project because the proposed pipeline would pass through Pakistan.

At the same time, it was said that Pakistan had recently demonstrated its readiness to cooperate with Teheran in laying the pipeline between India and Iran and also to other countries in the Indian subcontinent, such as Nepal and Sri Lanka. Physical security of the pipeline, assured supply of gas and the question of no country having arbitrary or unilateral control to turn off the energy source are among the security considerations which have made India wary of the Iranian proposal.
New Delhi's strong reservation were conveyed unambiguously by external affairs minister Jaswant Singh to the Iranian leaders during his visit to Teheran in May. Pakistan has repeatedly sought to allay India's fears and said it was ready to address New Delhi's security concerns about the project but New Delhi refuses to take Islamabad's assurances seriously.