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“Gas pipeline a building block in India-Pakistan relations”

KOCHI: The former Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar said here on Wednesday that India had a big opportunity in building its relationship with Pakistan through the Iran-India gas pipeline.

Speaking at the seventh session of the three-day conference on the “India-China-U.S.A. Triangle,” Mr. Haidar said India’s interest in Iran was not purely for accessing its natural gas. It was a building block in India’s relations with Pakistan.

Unfortunately, this pipeline has been discouraged by the U.S. that is primarily targeting Iran for spreading its influence in the region. This has been particularly disappointing for India.

This was a big opportunity for bringing India and Pakistan together and the U.S. opposition is a contradiction in the U.S. policy, he added.

Mr. Haidar also said perceptions about India’s democracy degenerating into incoherence were not right. There was an entirely coherent decision-making process in the country, he said.

Efforts by India to improve its relationship with China had been going on for a long time. He said it was not good to leave the India-China border issue unsettled.

He also said perceptions about India and China being rivals forever were not correct.

Interests of both the countries had converged in unexpected ways and if they stood together at international fora, they could not be pushed over, he said.

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