1995-01-02
Iran Offers Trade Transit Facilities to India
(APW_ENG_19950102.0207)
1) Iran Monday offered India transit facilities for trade with the Central Asian Republics and cooperation in the petroleum sector, a news report said.
2) The offer was made by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akber Velayati during his meeting with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Press Trust of India news agency quoted government officials as saying.
3) Both sides are keen to expand cooperation in the petroleum sector beyond India's purchase of crude petroleum from Iran. They are carrying out technical studies to examine the feasibility of setting up a pipeline to transport Iran's natural gas to India, officials said on condition of anonymity.
4) Iran is looking for India's expertise in developing its railroad system for expanding trade with neighboring Central Asian Republics, PTI said.
5) Velayati arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a three-day visit. During his talks with his Indian counterpart, he is expected to discuss fresh dates for Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani's visit to India.
6) Rafsanjani canceled his visit to New Delhi last October following the outbreak of plague, causing embarrassment to host India.
7) Iran has offered to help India and Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir dispute. New Delhi has rejected Iran's offer, saying that Kashmir was a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and it should be settled by them.
8) Pakistan is supporting Muslim militants who are fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir. As many as 10,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of militancy in December 1989.
9) Groups of Muslim militants want either outright independence or join an Islamic Pakistan.
1997-10-26
Gas consortium signs Turkmenistan-Pakistan pipeline deal
(APW_ENG_19971026.0134)
1) U.S. Unocal Corp. has formed a multinational consortium to build a dlrs 2 billion natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, but the future of the project remains shaky.
2) The pipeline must go through Afghanistan, and construction is all but impossible while fighting continues there. Although the Taliban religious army controls much of Afghanistan, the country remains extremely volatile.
3) Casting further doubt on the pipeline's future, the consortium signed Saturday in Turkmenistan's capital was formed without Afghanistan's participation.
4) ``None of the Afghans are involved in the consortium and the deal doesn't make any kind of agreement with any of the Afghan factions,'' Unocal spokesman Richard Keller said Sunday in Islamabad, Pakistan.
5) The consortium, led by Unocal, includes the government of Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia's Delta Petroleum Corp., Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly, as well as several Asian companies.
6) Under Saturday's agreement, construction of the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) pipeline is to start early next year, though this looked unlikely.
7) Complicating the situation, the Taliban's government said it was negotiating a pipeline deal with Argentina's Bridas as well.
8) ``Our negotiations with Unocal and Bridas are still going on and we haven't signed any final agreement with either of them,'' Taliban Information Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told The Associated Press in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
9) Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea, is extremely poor but has rich gas deposits and is anxious to find reliable export routes.
10) A Taliban delegation was in Ashgabat last week meeting with Turkmen and Pakistani officials.
11) ``They discussed the gas pipeline and decided to establish a commission between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to find a mutually agreeable solution for building the pipeline,'' Muttaqi said. ``They agreed to sign any agreement that will benefit these three countries.''
12) Pakistan is widely seen as a supporter of the Taliban, which has imposed a harsh version of Islamic law across the 80 percent of Afghanistan it controls.
13) Unocal, based in El Segundo, California, has said that the project is dependent on peace in Afghanistan and the presence of a stable government.
14) But any pipeline deal also would have to have the support of the Taliban's Afghan enemies. The northern regions bordering Turkmenistan are largely opposition-controlled and have been the scene of much bitter fighting.
15) Muttaqi accused Iran, widely seen as an ally of the Taliban's northern-based enemies, of encouraging the opposition alliance not to sign any pipeline deal the Taliban agreed to.
16) ``But that is just because Iran wants the pipeline to go through its own territory,'' he said.
17) Turkmenistan also is negotiating construction of a pipeline to carry its gas across Iran to Turkey.
18) The only existing pipeline goes through Russia, but Turkmenistan shut off the tap earlier this year because the main customer, Ukraine, has not been paying its bills.
1997-11-14
Albright aims to keep new relationship on track By DONNA BRYSON
(APW_ENG_19971114.0407)
1) It's a giant nuclear power whose relations with the United States have been weakened over the decades by major disputes and minor irritants. The ties have slowly and only recently begun to strengthen.
2) Not China or the former Soviet Union, but India. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's arrives in New Delhi next Tuesday on a trip aimed at keeping the new relationship on track in preparation for a planned visit next year by Bill Clinton, the first by a U.S. president to India since Jimmy Carter.
3) Albright's task won't be easy, warned Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, an independent Indian research organization.
4) ``I don't think the United States trusts India, and India doesn't trust the United States,'' Singh said.
5) One problem has been India's rejection of a U.S.-backed, global nuclear nonproliferation treaty. India says the U.N. treaty would simply freeze the advantage now held by countries with sophisticated arsenals. India has never officially acknowledged it tested a nuclear bomb in 1974, but Singh said it needs a nuclear option as a defense against China and Pakistan.
6) ``The problem for us is that the United States is leading the Western democracies in undermining the attempts of the world's biggest democracy to stand on its own feet,'' he said.
7) The nuclear issue is not the only area where New Delhi accuses Washington of being dictatorial. India bristles even more at any suggestion of U.S. interference in its tense relations with neighboring Pakistan, with whom it has fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
8) In announcing Albright's trip to India as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin tried to head off trouble, saying the dispute between India and Pakistan would not be a central theme. U.S. officials say Pakistan and India should work out their problems on their own.
9) India can be hypersensitive, as became clear last month during a visit to the region by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who accompanied the queen, had to repeatedly deny reports he offered to mediate in the Kashmir dispute. Indian newspapers also sharply criticized the queen for suggesting, during a speech in Pakistan, that two former British colonies should work harder to resolve their differences.
10) Still, gone are the days when the mere fact that Albright was visiting Pakistan first _ she arrives in Islamabad Sunday _ would have sparked outrage here. India is maturing, said Harcharan Singh Josh, president of the Indian Council of World Affairs. The private organization works to educate Indians about international issues.
11) During the Cold War, Josh said, India was quick to note Washington's mistakes, but more forgiving of Moscow's.
12) ``Now only one superpower is left ... so we have to take a stand that is not anti-U.S.,'' Josh said.
13) India began revamping its isolationist, socialist economy along Western market lines after the collapse of the Soviet Union, opening up to foreign investors in the early 1990s.
14) American business may be driving Washington's renewed interest in India, a nation of nearly 1 billion consumers, just as it is believed to have encouraged Clinton to play down differences with China.
15) ``If China and the U.S. can come together, why not India and the U.S.?'' said Josh. ``We are not the bitterest of enemies.''
1998-05-18
India: Pakistan has right to defend itself Eds: CORRECTS quote by Jaswant Singh in last graf.
(APW_ENG_19980518.0272)
1) Pakistan has every right to act in its own defense, a senior Indian official said Monday as Pakistan threatened to set off a nuclear device in answer to five Indian test explosions last week.
2) Jaswant Singh, a powerful leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party that is the main component of India's ruling coalition, did not directly address a possible Pakistani test. But he said relations between the two neighbors and longtime rivals would have to be governed by a principle ``of equal and legitimate security concerns.''
3) ``India can scarcely deny to Pakistan that which it claims for itself,'' said Singh, who is also deputy chairman of the federal planning commission, an economic forecaster.
4) After setting off three underground nuclear explosions on May 11 and two more on May 13, India declared itself capable of building the bomb. The tests provoked sanctions from the United States, Japan and other countries, and fears of a regional arms race with Pakistan.
5) India said it needed a nuclear defense against Pakistan and China, neighbors with whom it has fought a total of four wars. China is a declared nuclear power that India believes has shared its weapons technology with Pakistan.
6) Singh said his government still wanted better relations with Pakistan, with whom India has fought three wars since 1948 and still engages in frequent border skirmishes.
7) ``Our hope is that notwithstanding the developments, our relations shall continue to improve,'' he said, but added that prime ministers of the two countries have not been in contact since India's tests.
8) Protesters in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad burned an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Monday.
9) India's claim to being a nuclear power after just five tests last week and a sixth in 1974 has been questioned, but experts don't doubt the sophistication of its nuclear program. The May 11 test included the detonation of a powerful thermonuclear device.
10) R. Chidambaran, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, acknowledged to reporters Sunday that the phrase ``thermonuclear device'' was often equated with a hydrogen bomb, which would be a devastating weapon. He refused to detail the exact composition of India's device but indicated its explosive impact was considerably less than that of a hydrogen bomb.
11) Singh indicated Monday that New Delhi did not yet have a nuclear bomb and would not stockpile nuclear weapons.
12) ``No one requires a nuclear arsenal,'' Singh said. ``It is India's position that the nuclear arsenals should be ... abolished within a particular time frame by all the nations who have them.''
1998-05-22
India accuses Pakistan of firing across Kashmir border Eds: UPDATES with India accusing Pakistan of firing across Kashmir
(APW_ENG_19980522.0599)
1) India and Pakistan traded fire across their cease-fire line Friday, and India accused Pakistan of escalating clashes to cover the infiltration of militants into the disputed Kashmir region.
2) ``After exercising utmost restraint, our troops retaliated appropriately,'' said a Defense Ministry statement.
3) It was the second consecutive day that India accused Pakistan of heating up the frontier to assist guerrilla movement. A Pakistani government official called Thursday's accusation baseless.
4) Although such clashes are routine, they seldom are officially reported. So the statement on the firing marked an increase in the tension that followed India's five underground nuclear tests last week.
5) The ministry, however, denied Pakistani reports of a build up of Indian forces or a general alert in Kashmir. The Himalayan territory is divided between India and Pakistan and they have fought two wars for its control in the past 50 years.
6) India repeatedly accuses Pakistan of arming and training Muslim militants in Indian Kashmir in what it calls a proxy war by terrorism. Militant Kashmiri Muslims seek independence or unity with Pakistan, officially an Islamic state. Pakistan says it supports the militants' cause, but denies giving military support. Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in predominantly Hindu India.
7) Also Friday, India's governing party warned Pakistan to ``prepare for India's wrath'' if Islamabad did not stop its alleged campaign of destabilizing India, a local news agency reported.
8) Press Trust of India quoted Krishan Lal Sharma, vice president of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as saying that if Islamabad ``continues with its anti-India policy, Pakistan should be prepared for India's wrath.''
9) Pakistan has vowed to respond to India's nuclear testing with tests of its own, raising the specter of a regional nuclear arms race.
10) India says it needs a nuclear deterrent because neighboring China is a nuclear power and has shared technology with Pakistan.
11) Brajesh Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, tried to calm tempers Thursday, telling reporters that India wanted good relations with its neighbors.
12) Misra said India offered to talk with Pakistan earlier this month before its nuclear testing. He said Pakistan had yet to respond. Rounds of talks begun under a previous Indian government have stalled.
13) Indian interior minister L.K. Advani, a BJP hard-liner, said earlier this week that India's demonstrated nuclear power constituted a ``change in the geo-strategic situation'' that should persuade Pakistan to ``to roll back its anti-India policy, especially with regard to Kashmir.''
1998-06-01
India denies it plans another nuclear test, urges nuclear talks Eds: UPDATES with bomb blasts in Jammu city. No pickup.
(APW_ENG_19980601.0964)
1) India on Monday rejected reports it was planning another nuclear test, following its call on all nuclear weapons states to start negotiations for a nuclear weapons accord.
2) Foreign Ministry spokesman K.C. Singh said Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan's claims that India was surreptitiously preparing to conduct more tests next month was ``surprising'' _ and wrong.
3) ``India has declared a moratorium on testing, and this has been reiterated by the prime minister himself,'' Singh said.
4) His ministry reiterated India's long-standing call for international talks on reducing nuclear weapons in a statement Sunday.
5) Despite Singh's firm statement that India's tests were over, the country's Atomic Energy Commission Chairman R. Chidambaram was quoted by local news agencies as telling fellow scientists at a forum in Bombay on Monday that small tests might be carried out for research purposes _ but ``only if necessary.'' He did not elaborate.
6) India escalated the longtime Indo-Pakistan rivalry to the nuclear level with five tests May 11-13. In response, Pakistan claimed to have detonated six nuclear devices last week.
7) Khan said he had credible information that India was ``already in the process of preparing a new test site ... to blast somewhere in the first or second week in July.''
8) Pakistan has not said whether it would test again. U.S. intelligence sources said they had detected no signs that either Pakistan or India was readying new tests.
9) The international community has pressured India and Pakistan to sign a test ban treaty and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
10) Pakistan and India have fought three wars since they were carved from the same British colony 50 years ago. They are divided by religion _ Pakistan is officially Muslim and India is predominately Hindu _ and a simmering territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided between them and claimed by both countries.
11) A top Iranian envoy arrived Monday in Pakistan and praised its government for its nuclear tests.
12) ``From all over the world, Muslims are happy that Pakistan has this capability,'' Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters.
13) Kharrazi dismissed suggestions that Iran was preparing to follow Pakistan down the nuclear road.
14) ``We don't have any nuclear weapons program . . . what we have is for peaceful purposes,'' and all Iran's nuclear facilities are open to international inspectors, he said.
15) Violence broke out briefly Monday in Srinagar, capital of Indian-held Kashmir, after 100 people who oppose Indian rule distributed sweets in the streets _ a traditional way of celebrating _ and carried banners congratulating Pakistan on its nuclear tests. Some threw stones at police, who responded by beating protesters.
16) In Jammu, the nearby winter capital, a small bomb went off in a crowded market, killing a small child and injuring nine others, police said.
17) Mobs then burned down a dozen police jeeps and some private cars, injuring 10 policemen, officials said. The explosion occurred as campaigning during a local election concluded Monday. No one claimed responsibility for the blast.
18) Indian accuses Pakistan of arming and training several groups fighting either for Kashmir's independence or its union with Pakistan. Pakistan says it lends them only moral support.
1998-06-11
Strategic balance in South Asia: New realities, THE INDEPENDENT
(APW_ENG_19980611.0797)
1) xfdws STRATEGIC-BALANCE sked Emerging Markets Datafile
2) June 11, 1998
3) THE INDEPENDENT
4) BANGLADESH
5) ENGLISH
6) Strategic balance in South Asia: New realities, THE INDEPENDENT
7) Sadeq Khan
8) ASIA WorldSources, Inc. 201 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, S.E., 2nd Floor WASHINGTON, D.C. 20003 Tel: 202-547-4512 Fax: 202-546-4194 COPYRIGHT 1998 BY WORLDSOURCES, INC., A JOINT VENTURE OF FDCH, INC. AND WORLD TIMES, INC. NO PORTION OF THE MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE USED IN ANY MEDIA WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES, INC.
9) AFTER some dozen underground nuclear tests first by India and then by Pakistan over a span of twenty days last month, the power-drunk rhetoric in the capitals of both the countries are settling down to sober statements expressing willingness to thrash out all differences and develop friendship. Before the Pakistani tests, the Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani boasted that the five Indian tests on May 11 and 13 had ``brought about a qualitatively new state in Indian-Pakistani relations.'' He warned that Pakistan should recognise the changed realities and roll back from Kashmir. In reply, Pakistani Foreign Minister Gaohar Ayub Khan complained aloud that India was preparing to attack Pakistan-held Azad Kashmir, sought security guarantees without success from China and the West, called the Indian ambassador to his office to accuse India of being poised for a lightning air-strike against Pakistan's nuclear and missile installations, and readied its own missile-launchers to strike back at India with conventional war-heads as it carried out six nuclear tests on May 28 and May 30.
10) Whether Pakistan detonated five devices at once in the first round, as it claims, is disputed by some skeptics in Delhi and Washington, but the exact numbers really do not matter. The strength of the tests on both sides matched, and as the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif put it, Pakistan settled the score (of strategic imbalance) with India. An Indian Member of Parliament, Natwar Singh of the Janata Party, told his colleagues in the House that the Big Bomb had in reality proved a great equaliser,' and India had actually lost the significant edge that it had over Pakistan in conventional weaponry and military strength.Whether the swing in the strategic balance has shifted slightly in favour of Pakistan, with the express declaration of solidarity by the Organisation of Islamic Conference countries when Pakistan felt exposed to Indian nuclear blackmail, and with presumed assurance of financial support from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran to compensate for sanctions when Pakistan went ahead to test its own nuclear devices, cannot but worry the West.
11) But then the West has only its own insensitivity to blame, with its market-oriented tilt towards India, advocacy of moral high grounds with little material incentive or initiative to relieve Pakistan, and unconcealed glee in some quarters about psychological boost to China-bashing over Tibet from the Indian nuclear posture. To rub it in, the Dalai Lama expressed his support for the Indian nuclear bombshell.There was no real military movements on the Chinese or on the Pakistani side of India's borders over the last two years to cause any increased threat perception for India. Indeed if any, there was reduction of tensions on the Himalayan borders promising durable peace at least on the Chinese side. Yet when India began raising the heat by a grand stand citing China as its No. 1 enemy and Pakistan only an irritant, sympathetic murmurs in the capitals and in the media of the West were sending ripples everywhere.
12) When India exploded its nuclear and thermo-nuclear devices, condemnation all around was quick enough but punitive measures were missing or too slow to reflect any lasting intensity of Western condemnation except by the Clinton administration and by staunchly anti-nuclear nations like Japan, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark. Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, reacted sharply to Indian tests. But in the fifteen days that followed before Pakistan exploded its bombs, the USA could only impose mandatory sanction under the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994 that obliges US government to penalise a proliferating nation by terminating sales of defence articles and services including weapons technology, terminating all military financing, denying any credit, credit guarantees or other financial assistance by US government agencies except humanitarian aid, opposing loans and financial or technical assistance by international finance institutions like the World Bank and IMF, prohibiting American banks from making any loan to the violator government's agencies except to pay for agricultural commodities, and prohibit the export of technology with civilian and military applications.
13) In Europe, particularly in Russia, there were talks about persuading India to responsible behaviour and restraint by accommodating it in the nuclear club, and putting all pressure on Pakistan warning about international sanctions likely to hurt its fragile economy if it goes openly nuclear and offering the carrot of possible massive investments in Pakistan to make it the energy hub of trans-Asain hydrocarbon highway. Even President Clinton was reported to have expressed understanding, without condoning the act of nuclear assertion, that India was aggrieved by lack of world recognition of its appropriate status.Pakistan was already enduring from 1986 a US sanctions regime for its nuclear programme under the Pressler Amendment, which the US Congress in its long-winded process took the first steps to withdraw. The mandatory sanctions of the US on India was little consolation to Pakistan, particularly as the World Bank which had a clout over India on account of the size of Indian borrowing, only postponed the consideration of new loans to India without abandoning the proposals.
14) On the other hand, China could not ignore Western indulgence of India's inimical posture towards it after the blasts. Although China, true to its commitment to the P-5 members of the Security Council, did not offer seal of approval to Pakistan's nuclear retort, it expressed understanding of Pakistan's security concerns after Advani's threats, which the West simply chastised as ``foolishly and dangerously'' provocative. China assured Pakistan that Chinese assistance would not be cut off if Pakistan felt compelled to test its own nuclear capability. With OIC blessings, the ``Islamic bomb'' of Pakistan was there after a foregone conclusion, despite President Clinton's promises of ``priceless opportunity'' for Pakistan to gain the world's support, appreciation and assistance. The West indeed has lost a lot of credibility in South Asia and perhaps Asia as a whole by its misreading of the nuclear shocks in South Asia. Even now it is interesting to note how Asian and European reactions diverge in the aftermath of Pakistan's tests.
15) I quote below excerpts from Philip Bowring in Hong Kong writing for International Herald Tribune, as a sample of the Asian view. ``The Pakistan tests were not only unsurprising but, in the general scheme of things, have some beneficial consequences.They restore nuclear equilibrium to the subcontinent. India and Pakistan have known for years of each other's capability. Now that they are both out in the open, relations can return to the status quo ante. That is not ideal, but it is unlikely to lead to nuclear conflict.They give one Muslim nation a nuclear capability. The Islamic world has been quite reasonbly outraged by suggestions that Muslims, uniquely, could not be trusted with nuclear arms. Breaking this taboo has made the world safer by reducing the appeal to the Iraqs and Libyas of achieving glory by being the first nuclear Muslim nation.These tests, like India's, underline the impossibility of externally imposed nuclear non-proliferation rules. Nations may decide that such weapons serve no defence purpose at present. But the limitation of nuclear weapons can no longer rely on American arm-twisting.
1998-06-26
India says no to U.N mediatory efforts on Kashmir
(APW_ENG_19980626.0026)
1) A United Nations peace envoy has dropped New Delhi from his itinerary, apparently because Indian officials feared he would try to mediate in their territorial dispute with neighboring Pakistan, news reports said Friday.
2) The United Nations had planned to have Alvaro de Soto, the assistant U.N. secretary-general, visit Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to discuss controlling nuclear weapons following a series of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan. De Soto was also to have discussed what many believe to be the root of regional tensions _ the dispute between India and Pakistan over the northern region of Kashmir.
3) India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of the Himalayan territory, leaving two thirds of Kashmir in India and the rest in Pakistan.
4) The Indian-controlled part of Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in India, which is predominantly Hindu. A separatist movement that New Delhi says is supported by Islamabad has killed more than 15,000 people there since 1989.
5) De Soto still planned to visit Bangladesh on Saturday and then Pakistan, but he ``is not going to India as New Delhi had indicated that It is not ready to receive him,'' Press Trust of India news agency quoted U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard as saying in New York.
6) PTI quoted Indian foreign ministry officials as saying India would welcome de Soto only to discuss global nuclear disarmament.
7) ``There is no scope for third-party involvement of any nature in respect of India's relations with Pakistan. India-Pakistan issues are purely bilateral, to be resolved through bilateral dialogue,'' K.C. Singh, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.
8) Pakistan, which is mostly Muslim, has been eager for international mediation in the Kashmiri dispute, believing it is at a disadvantage in one-on-one talks with its much larger neighbor. India adamantly resists any outside pressure.
9) Kashmir will be on the agenda when the prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet next month in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on the sidelines of a regional summit.
1998-12-24
India says talk of strategic triangle premature By ASHOK SHARMA
(APW_ENG_19981224.0392)
1) It's too early to talk of an India-Russia-China strategic triangle since New Delhi's relations with Bejing are still strained, India's new foreign minister said Thursday.
2) Reviewing India's foreign policy challenges in 1998, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said India was still trying to normalize relations with China. India set off five nuclear tests in May, saying it needed a nuclear defense against threats posed by neighboring China and Pakistan.
3) Any ``strategic relationship with China is a consequence of improvement of relations,'' Singh said, adding both sides were still working out ``concerns.''
4) Last week, China rejected the idea of a ``strategic triangle'' that Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov promoted during his visit to New Delhi. Foreign affairs experts in all three countries have proposed such an alliance to check U.S. domination after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
5) Primakov said he had not formally proposed the alliance to Indian leaders.
6) Singh said India would not roll back the nuclear program that angered China, but noted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told the U.N. General Assembly earlier this year he wanted an international test ban treaty by September.
7) Singh, who took office this month, strongly rejected a reporter's suggestion that India, one of the poorest countries in the world, had spent billions of dollars on nuclear weaponry at the cost of social development.
8) India's nuclear tests also angered the United States, which urged New Delhi to retreat and imposed economic sanctions. Singh has led the Indian team in the ongoing talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.
9) Singh said differences remained on issues including the test ban treaty, production of materials needed to make nuclear weapons and controls on exporting such material. More talks are expected later this month in New Delhi.
1999-01-12
India's nuclear test a sign of new pragmatism By DONNA BRYSON
(APW_ENG_19990112.0075)
1) India's nuclear tests were a sign of burgeoning pragmatism in its attitude toward defense and international affairs, the country's foreign minister argues in a new book.
2) India advocated global nuclear disarmament in its role as the voice of the world's poor and nonaligned, and still sees that as a long-term aim, Jaswant Singh writes in ``Defending India,'' released this week. But today, Singh said, India must speak for itself, and act to build a nuclear deterrent against the threat it sees in neighbors China and Pakistan.
3) The release of ``Defending India'' comes just a few weeks before Singh resumes talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott on India's nuclear policy. The United States has been trying to persuade India to curb its nuclear ambitions, but Singh's book is one in a series of comments by officials that make it clear New Delhi will give up only so much.
4) During its first five decades of independence, Singh writes, India's anti-nuclear stance was part of a naive and romanticized view of the world that left it with ``no established land boundaries; an absence of a secure political environment; a devaluation of India's voice in global affairs and, worrisomely, not even a beginning of any institutional framework for conceptualizing and managing the country's defense.''
5) As an example of past naivete, Singh cites India's 1962 border war with China, which took then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, an advocate of ``India-China brotherhood,'' by surprise. India also has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence in 1947.
6) In Singh's view, India broke with past failures when it conducted a series of underground tests last May and declared itself a nuclear weapons power. Critics who include U.S. foreign policy makers say the move, which prompted Pakistan to conduct its own tests, came just as other countries were finally moving toward disarmament.
7) But Singh said rather than making progress toward global disarmament, the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia were trying to cement their nuclear advantage by denying other countries technology and the right to test.
8) ``Deterrence works in the West, or elsewhere ... otherwise why should these nations continue to possess nuclear weapons at all. Then by what reasoning is it to be asserted that it will not work or cannot work in India?'' Singh wrote.
9) ``India is now a nuclear weapon state; as is Pakistan. That is a reality that can neither be denied nor wished away,'' he said.
10) Singh and U.S. envoy Talbott will hold their seventh round of nuclear policy talks late this month in New Delhi. It is unclear when the talks will be concluded, as the two sides remain divided on key issues.
11) The United States wants India and Pakistan to sign an international test ban treaty, issue a formal moratorium on production of the fissile materials used to make nuclear weapons and adopt restraints on nuclear-capable missiles and aircraft.
12) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has never clearly promised to sign the test ban treaty, but told his parliament last month he supports its coming into force by September. The treaty as it is now written cannot come into force without India's signature.
13) Vajpayee added in a speech to parliament that India could not unilaterally end fissile material production, but was participating in talks in Geneva aimed at establishing an international ban. He also said India ``will not accept any restraints'' on developing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
1999-02-01
India to sign CTBT, international sanctions to be lifted By DONNA BRYSON
(APW_ENG_19990201.0055)
1) India has agreed to sign a nuclear test ban treaty, provided that economic sanctions imposed after India held nuclear tests last year are lifted, officials said Monday.
2) Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. and Indian officials stopped short of declaring a breakthrough after eight months of nuclear negotiations, but applauded significant progress.
3) In their comments, neither source could say exactly when New Delhi would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or when the sanctions would be lifted. But the U.S. official said it could be as early mid-1999, and that the events would take place nearly simultaneously.
4) The senior U.S. administration official said U.S. nuclear negotiator Strobe Talbott was to meet later Monday with the ambassadors of the world's seven other leading industrialized nations to discuss progress in talks with India and propose lifting the economic sanctions.
5) In response to India's nuclear tests last May, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States _ known collectively as the G-8 _ in June froze development loans to India as well as Pakistan. Pakistan had responded to India's tests with its own tests.
6) The Indian official said India had long made it clear it could not sign the CTBT while under sanctions. Now, he said, there was movement toward the resolution outlined by the U.S. official.
7) Jasjit Singh, director of New Delhi's independent Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, said sign pointed to a clearer-than-ever Indian pledge to sign the treaty, which successive Indian governments have said unfairly favors the major nuclear powers.
8) Singh said he was concerned that India appeared ready to sign without an assurance it would have access to nuclear technology for its energy programs, which it has been denied because the systems also have military uses.
9) ``What is the incentive for India to do all this? I think the (leaders of the) government of India should also make sure the people of India feel good about this. Otherwise, they can't get elected,'' Singh said.
10) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee leads a shaky, multiparty coalition whose fall has been predicted repeatedly since it took power last March. U.S. negotiators appear to be preparing for any possible change in government _ Talbott has met with opposition leaders such as Congress party president Sonia Gandhi during his visits to India.
11) The CTBT-for-sanctions formula recalled a breakthrough last September. Vajpayee declared then at the United Nations that he wanted to see the CTBT come into force by this September, and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would sign the treaty when India did.
12) Weeks after the U.N. statements, U.S. President Bill Clinton lifted some unilateral economic sanctions against both India and Pakistan.
13) Last month, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other global donor agencies resumed lending to Pakistan, whose already struggling economy had been much harder hit by the nuclear sanctions than had India's.
14) Talbott heads late Monday to Pakistan, where officials have reportedly promised new, tough legislation to control the spread of sensitive nuclear technology.
15) The progress reported by the sources was backed up by public statements by Talbott and Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. Both said their three days of talks were the most productive of the eight rounds they have held in the last eight months.
16) ``The two delegations recognize that the length of time devoted to these talks is unprecedented in U.S.-Indian relations,'' they added in a joint statement Sunday. ``It is the view of both delegations that this is time well spent, laying the foundation for a new, broad-based relationship that has eluded the United States and India in the past.''
1999-07-25
Kashmir, terrorism, test ban treaty discussed in India-U.S.
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1) Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said he discussed his government's allegation that Pakistan aids and abets terrorism in India when he met Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
2) ``We discussed Kargil,'' Singh said, referring to a region in Kashmir where the Indian army has been fighting since May to push Pakistan-based intruders back across a 1972 cease-fire line.
3) ``The totality of what Kargil represents today was certainly factored in,'' during the morning talks with Albright, Singh said. ``The question of state-sponsored terrorism, or aiding and abetting terrorism in India is very much part of it.''
4) Singh also told Albright that India will sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but cannot do it until a new government is formed after elections in September and October, said a senior U.S. official accompanying Albright.
5) The United States is sending the Energy Department's top arms control official on a six-month mission to India in hopes of bringing India under nuclear nonproliferation accords.
6) Starting Sept. 1, Joan Rohlfing, the department's senior adviser for national security, will join the staff of U.S. Ambassador Richard Celeste in New Delhi.
7) Neither India nor Pakistan has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Each set off a series of nuclear explosions last year.
8) The State Department has pressed strongly this year for India, which set off its first nuclear blast in 1974, to sign the 1968 treaty.
9) Singh told reporters that non-proliferation was discussed.
10) He and Albright were in Singapore for annual security discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and foreign ministers of Russia, China, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea.
11) The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Albright and Singh were in agreement that the United States should not be a mediator between India and Pakistan regarding their conflicting claims over Kashmir.
12) The Himalayan region was divided between them at independence in 1947 and has been the cause of two of their three wars.
13) ``The U.S. is not interested in being a mediator'' the senior U.S. official said.
14) While he talked to Albright about ``what should be done'' in Kashmir, Singh said, ``This is an issue which has to be resolved bilaterally, and the answers have to be found by India and Pakistan together.''
15) Singh said he and Albright also discussed the likelihood of U.S. President Bill Clinton visiting India and India being invited to be part of a core group in a conference on democracy.
16) Singh had said Saturday in an interview with CNBC that during the last year, the United States and India had engaged in their most productive talks ever.
17) U.S. support of India's position that the Pakistan-based fighters needed to withdraw from across the cease-fire line helped relations ``enter a new phase,'' Singh said.
1999-09-22
Pakistan Warns of Nuclear Doomsday
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1) South Asian nuclear rivals India and Pakistan carried their hostilities to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, accusing each other of pushing the fragile region toward a bloody conflict.
2) Warning of nuclear ``doomsday'' in South Asia, Pakistan urged world leaders and the United Nations to stop India from developing a massive arsenal of atomic weapons.
3) Last year, India became a nuclear power, and Pakistan matched India's first nuclear test within days.
4) Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said the world should not believe India's promise not to be the first of the two to use atomic weapons.
5) ``Pakistan believes that it is now essential to convene a conference, with the participation of all permanent members of the Security Council ... to promote the goals of strategic restraint and stability in South Asia,'' Aziz told the General Assembly.
6) But Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh blamed Pakistan for the rising tensions. He said Pakistan had spurned India's olive branch and attacked the northern Himalayan region of Kashmir. Both countries claim the region.
7) Many observers had hoped that Singh and Aziz would meet in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly in an effort to reduce tensions. But Indian diplomats said Pakistan had not requested a meeting. They did not say why India never requested a meeting.
8) The world's newest nuclear nations nearly went to war earlier this year. Hundreds of soldiers from both sides were killed in fighting in Kashmir.
9) The conflict has raised the danger of a full-scale nuclear war among the two nations. They have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
10) On Wednesday, Pakistan's Aziz proposed a six-point program to get India to reduce its nuclear weapons, starting with India dropping its ambitious plan for an atomic arsenal and developing long-range ballistic weapons.
11) Otherwise, ``Pakistan will be compelled to enhance its nuclear and missile capabilities and operational readiness to preserve deterrence,'' he said.
12) Aziz urged the United Nations to intervene in the Kashmir imbroglio. He said people in Kashmir -- the only Muslim-majority state in predominantly Hindu India -- should have a chance to vote against staying under Indian rule.
13) But India's Singh told the General Assembly that Kashmir was an integral part of India and its future was not negotiable. He also defended India's nuclear weapons, saying it had been obliged to acquire them because neighboring Pakistan and China possess them.
14) The United States, the European Union, Japan and most other countries have urged India and Pakistan to roll back their nuclear programs. The two countries have refused to open negotiations.
2000-01-18
India, Pakistan Warned To Tone Down
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1) Three U.S. delegations are whirling through Pakistan this week, all carrying the same message for their host and neighboring India: ``Turn down the heat.''
2) Last month's hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane unleashed a blistering war of words between the two rival countries -- who also happen to be the world's newest nuclear powers.
3) Pakistan's military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has warned India he's not a man to turn the other cheek to the relentless ``flak from across the border.'' S.K. Singh, a former top official in India's Foreign Ministry, responded that Musharraf's comment was regarded as ``a threat, which we take very seriously.''
4) Analysts fear the verbal sparring could take both countries, which have fought three wars, back to the battlefield.
5) ``There is a very real danger of a conflict, because you become the prisoner of your own rhetoric and you begin a spiral of action and reaction and you end up doing things you didn't plan to do,'' said Riffat Hussein, a political analyst at Pakistan's Qaid-e-Azam University.
6) ``We are in for a period of very high tension,'' said Dr. Tanvir Ahmed at Pakistan's Institute of Strategic Studies. ``Both countries think they can manage the tension ... but you never know.''
7) That uncertainty explains, in part, the visits to Pakistan by three sets of high-ranking Americans.
8) Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth is to arrive Thursday, the highest U.S. official to visit since the military threw out the elected government in October.
9) He follows Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who followed four Senate Democrats -- Minority leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Harry Reid of Nevada and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.
10) In addition, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott on Wednesday began two days of meetings in London with India Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.
11) ``The subject is a continuation of the security and nonproliferation dialogue the United States has been having with India, and reducing tensions with Pakistan, and other issues of mutual concern on the India subcontinent,'' said U.S. Embassy spokesman Rod Francis.
12) Pakistan's Musharraf was quoted in an Indian newspaper Monday as saying he suspected India would use the London talks to try to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state. On Wednesday, he was in China, a traditional ally of Pakistan, and observers in Islamabad said the general would use the visit to strengthen the alliance against India.
13) Brownback likened tensions between Pakistan and India to a slow gas leak waiting to explode. Given that both countries possess nuclear weapons, he warned an explosion would be catastrophic.
14) India and Pakistan deeply distrust each other and seem to be resisting efforts to get them to the negotiating table.
15) ``There is a total breakdown of communications,'' said Hussein, the political analyst. ``They are just not on talking terms with each other. This is unprecedented.''
16) India has verbally attacked Pakistan relentlessly, accusing its neighbor of ordering the Dec. 24-31 hijacking in which one passenger was killed. India also has alleged that all five hijackers were Pakistanis and is seeking to have Pakistan declared a terrorist state.
17) Pakistan denies involvement in the hijacking and says India is trying to deflect anger at home because it botched the handling of the hijacking, which ended with India's release of three pro-Kashmir militants.
18) Pakistan says it will talk to India when New Delhi is ready to discuss Kashmir, the divided territory claimed by both countries. India says it will talk to Pakistan when cross-border terrorism ends.
19) ``You would not sit down and talk to someone who is sending, daily, marauders to your homestead, killing your people, making it impossible to live in peace,'' Singh, the former foreign secretary, said in New Delhi.
20) In the ongoing tit-for-tat exchanges, Pakistan on Tuesday ordered an Indian Embassy employee to leave Pakistan within seven days after the man was allegedly found carrying a bomb.
21) The day before, a bomb killed eight people in Karachi, in southern Pakistan's Sindh province. The provincial governor blamed India, but offered no evidence to back up the allegation.
22) ``I see a rough ride ahead,'' Hussein said. ``There is very little meeting ground between the two countries right now.''
2000-08-25
NTSB Head Calls For Pipeline Rules
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1) The head of the nation's accident investigation agency Thursday urged the oil and gas industry to support stricter pipeline standards after touring the site of the country's deadliest pipeline disaster in decades.
2) ''Very few of our citizens know in how close a proximity they live, work, and in this case, play to these pipelines,'' said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
3) Eleven people were killed and another was critically injured Saturday when a pipeline exploded near their campsite along the Pecos River south of Carlsbad. The blast sent a fireball 350 feet into the sky and shot flames over the campers.
4) A preliminary investigation found corrosion in one section of the El Paso Energy Co. pipeline, though no official cause for the explosion has been determined.
5) Sections of the same pipeline run near schools, playgrounds and other populated areas, Hall said.
6) Kelley Coyner, who oversees pipeline safety for the Department of Transportation, described the more than 2 million miles of pipeline in the United States as an aging infrastructure laid 40 to 50 years ago.
7) ''We risk facing more of these tragedies unless we act,'' Coyner said.
8) The NTSB has been pushing for stricter pipeline safety regulations since 1985, Hall said.
9) He said a proposal backed by the agency and now before Congress would require internal inspection of pipelines, additional training for company employees responsible for pipeline safety, automatic shut-off valves that can quickly isolate pipeline ruptures, and the use of tougher steel in the manufacture of new pipelines.
10) Overseeing the industry isn't easy, Hall said. He said the pipeline safety agency, funded by fees assessed on the oil and gas industry, is severely underfunded and has only 55 inspectors to cover the 2 million miles of pipeline.
11) El Paso Energy Co. spokesman John Somerhalder said the company ''will do what it takes to make sure this kind of incident doesn't happen again.'' But he stopped short of endorsing the NTSB recommendations. He said the company supports safety regulations that are realistic.
12) Somerhalder said that the budget for pipeline inspection and technical support will more than double to $34 million next year and that the industry has spent $4 million on a program to improve pipeline inspections.
13) ''That is a good-sized research program,'' Somerhalder said.
2000-09-28
Opponents to natural gas pipeline plan to file lawsuit
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1) Opponents say they will sue to stop a natural gas pipeline that would cross northern Ohio into central Pennsylvania.
2) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 400-mile pipeline Wednesday. Landowners and farmers object to the project because of concerns about safety and disruption to farmland.
3) ''We knew this would happen,'' said Phil Bresler, a pipeline opponent from Wood County in northwest Ohio. ''But we had to do this to get to the federal courts. That's next.''
4) A partnership of natural gas sellers wants to build the Independence Pipeline to move gas from Chicago to New York. They hope to have it operational by November 2002.
5) The $670 million pipeline would begin in Defiance and go through 18 counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania. A second stretch of pipeline would extend 90 miles through parts of 10 New Jersey counties.
6) Opponents are worried the pipeline will come close to their homes and that it would disrupt costly drainage systems in northern Ohio's farm fields.
7) They also are angry that they could lose their land through eminent domain.
8) ''The main thing we hate the worst is the eminent domain part,'' Bresler said. ''They have the power to come in and take over our land and we can't do anything about it.''
9) He wouldn't say what arguments opponents will make in the suit, which is expected to be filed in the coming months.
10) Federal regulators have the power to approve the use of eminent domain. However, a Pickaway County judge in July ruled that Ohio law did not allow Marathon Ashland Petroleum to use that means to get access to land in central and southern Ohio for a proposed pipeline.
11) Federal regulators in December had voted to delay the project, after residents of Butler and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania raised environmental concerns. The authorities said the Independence Pipeline Co. had to meet some 90 requirements before receiving approval.
12) The commission in July ruled that the requirements had been met and that the pipeline would have ''limited adverse environmental effect.''
13) The pipeline is proposed by a partnership of natural gas sellers, including Coastal Corp.'s ANR Pipeline Co., Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. and National Fuel Gas Supply.
2000-11-04
New Proposal on Liquid Pipelines
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1) The Transportation Department proposed Friday requiring most oil and hazardous liquid pipeline operators to test their lines every five years to make sure they are safe.
2) The proposed rule covers 87 percent of liquid pipelines in the country, department officials said.
3) ``As the system expands to meet our growing energy needs, we must employ all reasonable means to ensure that the people and environments near pipelines are better protected,'' Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said in a statement.
4) Many pipeline operators already conduct tests voluntarily, but the rule _ due to become final in January _ doubles the rate of testing for many of the lines, Transportation Department officials said.
5) The rule also leaves it up to pipeline operators to decide which type of tests are needed, an agency spokeswoman said.
6) It also requires pipeline operators to allow state and federal inspectors to review company plans to prevent pipeline safety problems such as corrosion, outside damage to the lines, human errors and other defects.
7) ``Testing alone is not enough,'' said Kelley Coyner, administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration. ``Pipeline integrity cannot be achieved without a comprehensive understanding of all the risks facing a pipeline system, and a balanced program for addressing those risks.''
8) The RSPA is the Transportation Department agency that includes the Office of Pipeline Safety.
9) The proposed rule, which has been in the works for months, comes nearly 1 1/2 years after a pipeline rupture and explosion in Bellingham, Wash., killed three people _ two 10-year-olds and an 18-year-old.
10) Congress failed _ after several months of trying _ to enact tougher pipeline safety legislation.
11) ``While these new regulations represent progress ... they are not enough,'' said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. ``Until Congress acts on comprehensive pipeline safety legislation, the threat of another Bellingham disaster still exists.''
12) Frank King, the Bellingham father of one of the boys killed in the accident, said the proposed rule is a ``step in the right direction.''
13) But he added, ``It doesn't solve the problem.'' He said that until the federal government requires stiff fines from companies who spill or leak gas, pipelines will not be safe.
14) Companies that operate more than 500 miles of lines, and who run lines in environmentally sensitive areas, heavily populated regions or along waterways, would have to comply with the new rule.
15) The Transportation Department plans to issue other pipeline safety rules in coming months, including one that would cover natural gas pipelines.
16) The new rule is to take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register and a review of public comment.
2000-12-19
India, Pakistan Remain US Concern
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1) A year ago, George W. Bush couldn't name the leader of India or Pakistan when faced with a reporter's pop quiz during the campaign.
2) Now the two countries, whose bitter rivalry over disputed Kashmir resounds worldwide because both have tested nuclear weapons, are wondering what a Bush presidency will mean for the subcontinent.
3) Indian leaders, charmed last March when Democrat Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit the country in more than 20 years, are hoping a year of unprecedented warmth in relations will continue under Bush despite U.S. concerns about nuclear arms.
4) Pakistani officials, meanwhile, hope a Republican administration will be more sympathetic. But the country, run by a military chief after a bloodless coup in 1999, is at odds with Washington over its nuclear effort and over neighboring Afghanistan's Taliban militia.
5) The hostile relationship between India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since 1947, is likely remain a major U.S. foreign policy concern.
6) Under Clinton, Washington has pushed both countries to sign a global treaty banning nuclear tests. The United States has signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty but not ratified it, and Bush backs the Senate's rejection of the pact _ a position that has won him praise from both India and Pakistan.
7) ``We expect the U.S. will reduce pressure on Pakistan regarding the signing of the CTBT because Republicans themselves are not in favor of this treaty,'' said Shireen Mazari, director of the Pakistan's government-run Institute of Strategic Studies.
8) Neither Pakistan nor India has signed the treaty, but each has committed to a moratorium on nuclear testing until it comes into force. U.S. sanctions imposed on India after its 1998 tests remain in place.
9) India's Cold War ties to the Soviet Union turned Pakistan into Washington's natural ally, but that has changed since the Soviet collapse and the United States has grown much closer to India.
10) Clinton exchanged visits this year with Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and economic relations between the world's most powerful democracy and the world's most populous democracy have been improving.
11) Indian officials are cautiously optimistic that ties will strengthen under Bush, whose father was president from 1988-92. During the campaign, the younger Bush spoke to Vajpayee on the phone and said in a speech that the new century would see India's arrival as a force in the world.
12) ``I don't see any basic change in the U.S. policy toward India,'' said former Indian foreign secretary Mani Dixit. ``India's relations with the United States were all right during his father's presidency.''
13) In Pakistan, military chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf said last week that he hoped for friendly ties.
14) ``Under the Republicans we don't expect U.S.-Pakistan relations to deteriorate as they did under the Democrats,'' Mazari said. ``We expect a shift in nuance.''
15) But the think tank director said Pakistan should distance itself from the United States because the two countries have opposing interests in the region, particularly on China and Afghanistan.
16) The United States has accused China of helping Pakistan develop its missile and nuclear technology. Pakistan has close ties with Afghanistan's Taliban, which Washington accuses of harboring terrorists.
2001-02-22
Energy Panel OKs Gulf-Fla. Pipeline
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1) A pipeline that would carry natural gas under the Gulf of Mexico from Alabama to the Tampa Bay area has won initial approval from a federal panel.
2) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave approval Wednesday to the 750-mile long Gulfstream Natural Gas Pipeline.
3) The pipeline still needs approval from several state and federal agencies before the $1.6 billion construction project can begin. The pipeline project is being backed by a partnership of several companies based in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
4) The commission said the project would cause ``limited adverse environmental impacts.''
5) Environmentalists and officials from some other agencies, however, have questioned whether the pipeline is environmentally sound.
6) The pipeline would start in Mobile, Ala., and cut across the Gulf bottom to Tampa Bay, coming ashore in Manatee County, going overland along the shores of Lake Okeechobee and ending near West Palm Beach.
7) The federal Department of Commerce has said the pipeline could ``significantly degrade sensitive marine habitats, including those important to commercial and recreational fisheries.''
8) The proposed pipeline is expected to deliver about 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the gas fields of Alabama and Mississippi, enough to produce electricity for about 4.5 million Florida homes.
2001-09-17
Indians concerned about Pakistan's efforts to revamp its image from
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1) Pakistan's offer of help to the United States was being viewed Monday with skepticism and concern by analysts and opinion makers in India as an attempt by Islamabad to rehabilitate its image from a country sponsoring terrorism to a fighter against the scourge.
2) Pakistan has offered to help the United States nab the perpetrators of Tuesday's carnage in New York and Washington and has sent an official team to Kabul to persuade Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks.
3) Pakistan also denies India's allegations that it supports terrorist groups, some of whom have camps or headquarters offices on its territory.
4) ``Countries that have sponsored and harbored terrorism should not be rewarded. Pakistan is viewing this as an opportunity to rehabilitate itself,'' said Amitabh Mattoo, professor of international security at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
5) Indian newspapers reported Monday that Pakistan has listed its conditions for helping the Americans to fight terrorism in Afghanistan. Among the demands were that Pakistan's dlrs 30 billion international debt be written off and that the United States intervene on its behalf in its decades long dispute with India over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, the Indian newspapers said.
6) Analysts in New Delhi said Pakistan was trying to convince American policy makers that it is in the front ranks of the fight against terrorism and that its efforts should be rewarded.
7) ``There are apprehensions that the U.S. may lose sight of who is responsible for the creation of this global network of terror,'' said Mattoo.
8) New Delhi accuses Pakistan of sponsoring at least a dozen Islamic guerrilla groups that have set off bombs and land mines and fought Indian security forces for more than 12 years to separate Kashmir from India. Pakistan and India have fought two wars over the mostly Muslim region, which is divided between them.
9) Since Tuesday's attacks, India has offered U.S. military forces the use of its facilities in any retaliatory operations. New Delhi has also handed over intelligence gathered over the years against terrorist training camps it says are located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, in the Pakistani hinterland of Punjab and Baluchistan, and in provinces on the Afghanistan frontier.
10) Indian intelligence officials told The Associated Press on Sunday they have handed to U.S. investigators evidence that some of the training camps in Pakistan are funded by Osama bin Laden, the U.S. government's chief suspect in last week's attacks.
11) On Sunday, U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the telephone and thanked India for its help.
12) High level consultations between India and the United States are scheduled later this week in Washington when Brajesh Mishra, India's national security adviser, will hold talks with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
13) India's External Affairs and Defense Minister Jaswant Singh is also visiting Washington at the end of September for meetings with his counterparts, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
14) Indian officials have not confirmed whether Singh would meet Bush, but reminded journalists that during Singh's visit to Washington in April, Bush had invited Singh to an unscheduled meeting in the Oval Office and conveyed America's desire for close ties with India.
15) During the Cold War years, India and the United States had viewed each other with suspicion and distrust. While professing to be nonaligned, India had allied with the Soviet Union. The United States had tilted toward Pakistan.
16) After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, relations between Washington and Islamabad became even closer. Pakistan was seen by American policy makers as a moderate Islamic state, which could serve as a bulwark against the rising forces of Islamic fundamentalism.
17) But in the last decade, India has repeatedly tried to draw the world's attention to Pakistan's alleged role in supporting and financing terrorist groups, a charge that Islamabad has denied.
18) ``India has been faced with terrorism of a serious nature from Pakistan. Between 1987 and now, on at least five occasions, Pakistan has threatened India's nuclear facilities,'' said S.K. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan.
19) ``What I am worried about is that since Tuesday's attacks no U.S. policy maker has reminded the world about Pakistan's role as a sponsor of terrorism,'' said Singh.
2001-11-29
U.S. Admiral Blair calls for `unprecedented' military cooperation
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1) India and the United States are on the verge of ``unprecedented'' security and military cooperation as they stand together in the global war against terrorism, the chief of the U.S. Pacific military command said Thursday.
2) ``It has been too long that we have not worked together,'' Adm. Dennis C. Blair told Indian businessmen on the second day of his visit to India.
3) Blair, the senior U.S. military commander in the Pacific and Indian Ocean region, directs the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force operations. He met with Indian Cabinet ministers on Wednesday, including the defense and foreign ministers, as well as senior officers of India's armed forces.
4) In his speech before the Confederation of Indian Industries, Blair said India was a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and instrumental to securing stability in Asia.
5) ``We believe that a robust U.S.-India defense relationship of a kind that is unprecedented in our bilateral history can play an important part in contributing to peace, security and freedom in Asia,'' he said. ``We will develop our relationship with India on the basis of India's emergence as a rising global power.''
6) India was one of the first countries to offer logistical and operational support to the United States after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
7) Rival Pakistan has become the front-line ally in the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorism network operating in Afghanistan. Washington is keen to remind New Delhi that it is grateful for India's assistance and that its relationship is important and unique.
8) Indian intelligence officials have told The Associated Press that maps, photographs, films, interrogation reports and other information relating to Islamic militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been shared with the FBI since Sept. 11.
9) In the past, India would have feared sharing intelligence information with the United States, which was closely allied with Pakistan since the Cold War. Pakistan and India, both armed with nuclear weapons, are bitter enemies and have fought three wars.
10) India, though a member of the Nonaligned Movement, sided with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
11) Today, the world's largest democracy has attempted to open its economy and take advantage of globalization.
12) U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill recently noted that the two countries ``are working intensely together as never before and in ways that were unimaginable on Sept. 10.''
13) The United States and India have been on a fast track to improving military ties since U.S. sanctions were lifted against both India and Pakistan when they joined the coalition against global terrorism.
14) The sanctions had been in place since 1998, when both South Asian neighbors tested nuclear weapons.
15) New Delhi and Washington are now free to plan joint defense operations and military hardware purchases.
16) ``Over the coming weeks, an intense series of meetings and visits between civilian and uniformed leaders of the U.S. and India will hammer out the specific policies and detailed plans for execution,'' Blair said.
17) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to India earlier this month. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith was scheduled to visit New Delhi next week to inaugurate a strategic security and defense dialogue with India.
18) Richard Haass, the U.S. coordinator for policy regarding the future of Afghanistan, was also scheduled to visit next week.
19) ``Learning from the Sept. 11 tragedy, we must continue to enhance regional security cooperation to deal with the 21st century threats,'' said Blair. ``Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups operate in large, multiethnic and open societies. India, like the United States, is such a nation.''
20) After his speech, Blair declined to answer questions about whether he discussed the thorny issue of Kashmir, over which Pakistan and India have fought two wars.
21) The Press Trust of India reported Wednesday that Blair attended a 50-minute presentation by the Indian army highlighting its experience in battling terrorism in Kashmir, where more than a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting for the Himalayan territory's independence from India since 1989.
22) India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the guerrillas, a charge Islamabad denies. Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the rebels.
2001-12-26
India and Pakistan ratchet up war preparations amid efforts to
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1) India and Pakistan put missiles on alert and ratcheted up war preparations Wednesday but efforts were also taking place to avert a war which both nuclear-armed nations say they don't want.
2) The frontier was relatively calm Wednesday as the exchange of gunfire between Indian and Pakistani troops subsided and New Delhi said it was discussing fresh diplomatic measures against Pakistan.
3) India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their violent division at independence from Britain in 1947, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. A Dec. 13 gun and grenade attack on the Indian Parliament left 14 dead and set off a new round of war talk, troop movements, and daily exchanges of gunfire on the border.
4) India accused Pakistan's spy agency of sponsoring the attack, which it said was carried out by two Pakistan-based militant Muslim groups, a charge Islamabad denied.
5) U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated Wednesday that the United States supports India's allegation. He announced that the United States is freezing the assets of the two militant groups, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e Tayyaba.
6) The two groups ``and their ilk seek to assault democracy, undermine peace and stability in South Asia and destroy relations between India and Pakistan,'' Powell said.
7) India and Pakistan indicated they were looking at diplomatic options, and there was international pressure to avert a new war. Britain was ``continuing to urge restraint on both governments,'' a Foreign Office spokesman said in London, speaking with customary anonymity.
8) India's Cabinet Committee on Security met Wednesday to discuss ``further diplomatic offensives,'' Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said. No decision will be made until Thursday, when Defense Minister George Fernandes returns from a tour of the Siachen Glacier, an area in Kashmir which borders Pakistan and China.
9) India has already recalled its ambassador from Pakistan and announced that bus and train services between the two countries will end on Jan. 1. Further action could include a possible ban on Pakistan airline flights, abrogation of a water treaty, downgrading of embassies, and cancellation of Pakistan's ``most favored nation'' trading status.
10) Pakistan said Wednesday it would not escalate the war of words with India.
11) ``Indian leaders are generating a war hysteria because of domestic compulsions,'' Anwar Mahmood, Pakistan's information secretary, told The Associated Press. ``At this moment, we feel it is more important for the peoples of this region to live in peace rather than conflict.''
12) He said: ``Pakistan will continue to act with restraint and act in a responsible manner. Our hope is that better sense will prevail in India also.''
13) In contrast to previous periods of tension with India, Pakistan has been more cautious with its rhetoric. Its position has been bolstered by its new presence on the world stage as a key partner of the United States in the U.S.-led war against terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan.
14) India's Singh confirmed that a summit of the seven South Asian leaders _ including Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf _ remains on schedule for next week in Katmandu, Nepal. That would give the two leaders the chance for face-to-face talks, hopefully to avert a fourth war.
15) News reports quoted Indian defense sources as saying its military would not be ready for a full-scale war for several months and would prefer to avoid fighting in the winter.
16) Musharraf warned India against any military action, saying Tuesday that Pakistan's armed forces ``are fully prepared and capable of defeating all challenges.''
17) Pakistan and Indian news media reported that Pakistani missiles _ including medium-range Chinese-made weapons _ had been put on alert.
18) Fernandes, the Indian defense minister, told Press Trust of India on Wednesday: ``Missile systems are in position.'' India's arsenal includes medium-range Russian missiles and the Indian-made Prithvi I, which can be fired from a mobile launcher and has a range of 150 kilometers (93 miles).
19) The missile systems in both countries can be converted to deliver nuclear warheads, but it is not clear whether such steps have been taken.
20) Troops on both sides also moved toward the border.
21) Trains heading to the border in India's western state of Rajasthan were full of soldiers Wednesday and Indian air force jets flew over the border town of Jaisalmer every seven minutes.
22) ``The situation on the border is under control,'' India's Singh said after Wednesday's Cabinet committee meeting.
23) India has demanded that Musharraf's government take action against Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e Tayyaba, which are fighting to separate Kashmir from India.
24) Musharraf condemned the Parliament attack, but delayed any action against the Pakistan-based groups, saying India must produce evidence against them. His government finally acted under pressure from the United States, freezing the assets of the two groups and arresting the Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar.
25) India's foreign minister described the action as ``trickery'' and ``cosmetic.''
26) In a follow-up action, Pakistani police arrested 30 militants at the offices of Jaish-e-Mohammed, witnesses and police said Wednesday. Police would not say what charges the men face.
27) There was no immediate comment from Indian officials on the arrests.
28) Islamic militants have carried out strikes in the Indian part of the Kashmir region since 1989, fighting for independence or merger with Pakistan. Human rights groups say more than 60,000 people have been killed.
2002-01-11
2002-02-15
Musharraf visit illustrates sensitivity of U.S. relations with
(APW_ENG_20020215.0116)
1) Pakistan's president had a message for U.S. officials during his visit: His country wants to make peace with India, but India won't cooperate and may even plan more nuclear tests.
2) U.S. officials quickly said, privately, that they don't think India has any such plans. While praising the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, for his help against terrorism, American officials from President George W. Bush down also made clear they won't take sides in the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir.
3) That Himalayan region is the source of almost all the tensions between the South Asian neighbors.
4) U.S. officials have said throughout Musharraf's visit they want to be friends with both Pakistan and India and want the two nuclear-armed countries to get along.
5) ``The principal interest of the United States is seeing that those two countries are able to talk and manage their affairs in a peaceful way,'' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said after meeting with Musharraf.
6) Musharraf met with Bush on Wednesday and gave some speeches in Washington on Thursday.
7) In the long-standing rivalry between Pakistan and India, fighting for support from the United States has become as much a goal as complaining about each other, said Teresita Schaffer, a South Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
8) India and Pakistan often spend as much time ``playing to the United States'' as playing to each other, she said, every bit like jealous rivals for attention.
9) The recent India-Pakistan military buildup has forced the United States to walk its diplomatic balancing act even more. The two countries have some 1 million men in a standoff at their frontier after a suicide attack on India's parliament Dec. 13 that India blames on Pakistan-based militants.
10) This week, Bush administration officials turned aside Musharraf's call for U.S. mediation on Kashmir. They made clear U.S. mediation will come only at the request of both parties to the long and bitter dispute.
11) And when Musharraf said in two speeches he had told U.S. officials of inconclusive reports that India might plan another nuclear test, U.S. officials said they had no indications of that.
12) On the other hand, Bush also praised Musharraf strongly for his crackdown on Islamic extremists in Pakistan.
13) And Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a trip last month to defuse tensions, praised in conversations with Indian officials what Musharraf has done to confront extremists. Powell encouraged the Indians to give the Pakistani leader time to do more.
14) Powell also repeatedly has tried to reassure Pakistan that closer U.S.-India military ties would not destabilize the region.
15) The United States wants close relations with both Pakistan and India in part to get help in its war on terror and in part because both are increasingly important countries in a volatile region, analysts say.
16) Before Sept. 11, U.S. relations with Pakistan had deteriorated because of Musharraf's seizure of power in a 1999 coup and because of its nuclear weapons program.
17) Since he aligned his country with the United States after the September attacks, however, Musharraf has received increased aid and copious praise. He has provided the U.S. military with the use of Pakistani air bases and airspace for operations in Afghanistan, shared intelligence and put his army at the Afghan border to catch members of the al-Qaida terror network fleeing into Pakistan.
18) U.S. relations with India, meanwhile, had warmed during the Clinton administration at a time when Pakistan and the United States were largely on the outs.
19) India and the United States have economic ties that are increasingly important, and they are embarking on unprecedented security and military cooperation after relations that were cool during the Cold War.
20) Russia's Cold War influence over India on foreign policy has waned, and the United States and India now find they have many common goals in the Middle East, Central Asia and Southeast Asia, Schaffer said.
21) In December, for example, India and the United States began weeklong joint naval exercises off India's west coast. Such joint exercises are likely to continue because of the growing importance to the United States of stability in the Indian Ocean area, Schaffer said.
2002-02-21
Pakistan to support Iran's gas pipeline to India
(APW_ENG_20020221.1115)
1) Pakistan's military-led government on Thursday promised support to a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India which would pass through Pakistani territory.
2) Pakistan also agreed to export gasoline to Iran, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
3) An Iranian delegation led by Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh met Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf here and expressed ``keen interest'' in pursuing the proposed gas pipeline project from Iran to India, the agency said.
4) The Iranian delegation wants to start a feasibility study of the pipeline, it added.
5) The agency gave no other detail.
6) Pakistan has long been pushing for the gas pipeline from Iran to energy-starved India because it could make millions of dollars in transit fees.
7) But India is reluctant to import gas from a pipeline passing through Pakistan _ its main rival in the region. Instead, India wants the pipeline through the sea, which is a costly proposition.
8) Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947 when British rule of the subcontinent ended.
9) Pakistan's goodwill gesture came at a time when tensions are high between the neighbors following the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament. The two countries have deployed hundreds and thousands of troops along their border following the attack which India blames on Pakistani spy agency and two Pakistan based Islamic groups. Pakistan denies the charge.
10) Iranian delegation expressed desire to purchase the entire quantity of surplus gasoline refined in Pakistan. Musharraf directed the petroleum ministry to take steps to facilitate the sale.
11) There were no immediate details how much gasoline Pakistani refineries produce.
2002-05-21
India and Iran to work together for reconstruction of Afghanistan AP Photos DEL101
(APW_ENG_20020521.1074)
1) India and Iran, two of Afghanistan's largest neighbors, on Tuesday identified a slew of reconstruction projects in war-ravaged Afghanistan on which they could work together, officials said.
2) Rebuilding hospitals and schools, restoring public transport services and projects in water, power and housing were identified as areas in which India and Iran could join hands to help Afghanistan, said Nirupama Rao, India's external affairs ministry spokeswoman.
3) At a meeting in New Delhi Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee discussed the reconstruction of Afghanistan and developments in the region, bilateral relations and enhancing trade between the two countries, Rao told journalists.
4) ``Both countries are committed to a peaceful, stable Afghanistan and have decided to cooperate even more closely toward that end,'' she said.
5) The flare-up of tensions between India and Pakistan were also part of the talks, she said.
6) ``Prime Minister Vajpayee conveyed India's concerns about Pakistan's unwillingness and incapacity to deliver on India's demand that it clamp down on terrorist organizations and stop the infiltration into Indian territory of militants who are based in Pakistan,'' Rao said.
7) Tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors have escalated since a militant attack on the Indian parliament in December. Since then the two countries have ranged nearly a million soldiers along their common border.
8) There have been heavy exchanges of gunfire from both sides since last week after an attack by Islamic militants on an army base in the northern Jammu-Kashmir state last week killed 34 people _ mostly soldiers' wives and children.
9) India accuses Pakistan of funding and training Islamic militants who are seeking to separate Muslim majority Kashmir from India and merge it with Pakistan.
10) At the two-day talks, held as part of the Indo-Iranian joint commission set up last year to improve bilateral ties, both sides also reviewed India's plan to import natural gas from Iran. Although India and Iran are eager to start the imports, the plan has made little progress for nearly a decade, mostly due to India's concerns about a pipeline running through at least 700 kilometers (420 miles) of Pakistani territory.
11) India's industry is looking for new sources of the clean-burning fuel. Current consumption of 6.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day is projected to shoot up to 17 billion cubic feet by 2025. Domestic fields supply about 2.3 billion cubic feet a day, the government says.
12) Iran sits on the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia, estimated at around 20 trillion cubic meters.
2002-05-28
British foreign secretary in New Delhi to try to defuse India-Pakistan tensions
(APW_ENG_20020528.1707)
1) British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw meets Indian leaders on Wednesday to try to persuade them to seek a peaceful solution to the decades-old Kashmir dispute, a day after New Delhi responded angrily to a speech by Pakistan's military leader.
2) The nuclear-armed South Asian rivals cranked up their war rhetoric after Pakistan test-fired another missile Tuesday capable of carrying nuclear warheads into India. The HatfII, or Abdali, missile was the third such missile tested by Pakistan since Saturday.
3) Keeping up diplomatic pressure, Straw met with the Pakistan president Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Tuesday and was to see Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Wednesday.
4) Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to bring Vajpayee and Musharraf together during an Asian summit in Kazakhstan next week.
5) Pakistan has accepted, but Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh reiterated India would not resume dialogue until Pakistan stopped attacks in India-controlled Kashmir by Pakistan-based Islamic militants.
6) ``You cannot put a pistol of terrorism to my temple with the finger on the trigger and say, 'Dialogue with me, or I will release this trigger of terrorism,''' Singh said Tuesday.
7) Also Tuesday, India's defense minister said fighters from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and from Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban are in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
8) ``We have information that the number of terrorists who are on the other side of the border ... (are) people who have fled from Afghanistan, al-Qaida men and Talibanis,'' Defense Minister George Fernandes told Star News Television.
9) Singh warned that American forces in the region were not a deterrent to a possible attack on Pakistan, but restated India's policy that it would not strike first with nuclear weapons if a war should erupt.
10) After a NATO luncheon in Italy, Secretary-General Lord Robertson said U.S. President George W. Bush, Putin and 18 other alliance leaders ``share a deep common concern'' and urged India and Pakistan ``to de-escalate and resume talking together.''
11) Singh repeated India's claim that Musharraf has done little to curb cross-border infiltration by militants and called a speech made by Musharraf on Monday night dangerous and disappointing
12) ``Disappointing as it merely repeats some earlier reassurances that remain unfulfilled today,'' Singh said. ``Dangerous because of deliberate posturing, tensions have been added, not reduced.''
13) In Monday's speech, Musharraf also said that Pakistan would not start a war, called attacks inside India the work of terrorists and renewed his call for unconditional negotiations.
14) He warned, however, that Pakistan would fight back ``with full might'' if attacked by India and would continue to support what he called Kashmir's ``freedom struggle.''
15) India and Pakistan have fought three wars since achieving independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. Both nations claim the Himalayan province in its entirety.
16) The two nations put 1 million troops on high alert on both sides of their frontier after New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants for a December suicide assault on the Indian Parliament. The troops regularly exchange gunfire and heavy artillery and mortar fire.
17) Relations were further strained two weeks ago after an assault on an Indian army base in Kashmir killed 34 people.
18) Musharraf vowed in January to halt terrorists operating from Pakistani territory. India says he has done little to fulfill that pledge.
19) India accuses Pakistan of waging a proxy war by training and arming Islamic militants and allowing them to cross the frontier for the last 12 years. At least 60,000 people have died in the insurgency. Pakistan says it only provides the militants with ``moral'' support.
20) Meanwhile, India and Pakistan's new representatives at the United Nations on Tuesday publicly reaffirmed their countries' commitment to peace.
21) Vijay Nambiar, of India, and Munir Akran, his Pakistani counterpart, both swore to uphold the U.N. Charter _ whose main principle is preserving international peace.
2002-07-11
Central Asian gas pipeline through Afghanistan may extend to India, planners say
(APW_ENG_20020711.0114)
1) ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (Dow Jones/AP) _ The international group planning a dlrs 2 billion natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan have proposed extending the project to India.
2) Juma Mahammadi, the Afghan minister for industry and mineral resources, said after all-day meetings in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on Wednesday, ``It is expected that the pipeline ... will be extended to India.''
3) The planned 1,460-kilometer (907-mile) pipeline is to carry gas from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad-Donmez field to Afghanistan and Multan, Pakistan, and is supported by the United States. The pipeline has been viewed as a way for Washington to counter Russian and Iranian influence in the region with a transit route that skirts those countries.
4) Wednesday's meetings produced no agreements over technical specifications. A feasibility study is to be undertaken by September of this year and its results presented to a second meeting of the partners in Kabul, Afghanistan.
5) The participants didn't say whether representatives of the Indian government have been invited to upcoming meetings.
6) However, Mahammadi said ``the Indian government has expressed its readiness to buy gas from this pipeline'' in the future.
7) A similar project was launched in 1997 with the participation of U.S. energy giant Unocal Corp., but abandoned when the United States fired cruise missiles into Afghanistan in 1998 in pursuit of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, blamed for two U.S. embassy bombings that year in east Africa.
8) (dj/av/adc)
2002-08-05
Report: Indian company hopes to pipe natural gas from Iran by 2007
(APW_ENG_20020805.0020)
1) India's petrochemical giant Reliance Industries plans to sign an agreement with British Petroleum and the National Iranian Oil Company to bring natural gas to India by pipeline from Iran via Pakistan, a newspaper reported Monday.
2) ``By 2006-07, the first natural gas will be brought to India from Iran,'' Business Line quoted Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, as saying in an interview.
3) Ambani told the newspaper that a feasibility study was completed and that his company will sign an agreement by January with the British Petroleum and the National Iranian Oil Company.
4) He said his company planned to bring natural gas to its petroleum and petrochemical complex at Jamnagar, a town in western India, through a 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) Indo-Iran pipeline that would pass through Pakistan.
5) The pipeline project was on the agenda of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf when he visited India last year. However, his talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee got bogged down over disputed Kashmir province.
6) With India and Pakistan involved in a military stand-off, little progress has been made in the pipeline project. Ambani didn't say whether the governments of India and Pakistan have made progress on the issue.
7) Iran wants an outlet for its large proven natural gas reserves, estimated at 23 trillion cubic meters (812 trillion cubic feet).
8) Pakistan stands to profit from dlrs 300-400 million it says it can earn in annual transit fees, while India will get clean and cheap fuel for its burgeoning power sector.
9) However, India fears that the proposed pipeline could be sabotaged, or used as a political weapon by Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over control of Kashmir, since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
10) Iran is backing the Pakistani proposal to supply the gas through Pakistani territory.
11) Indian and Iranian experts are also likely to study the possibility of deep sea gas transmission via pipeline, with the cost being shared equally by both nations.
12) Last year, Reliance Industries signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Company and the British Petroleum to undertake a dlrs 10 million feasibility study for the development of a liquefied natural gas project in southern Iran.
2002-11-09
Iran and India sign accord promoting cooperation in technology
(APW_ENG_20021109.0155)
1) Iran and India on Saturday signed an accord to promote scientific and technological cooperation during a visit by the Indian minister of science and technology, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
2) The accord deals with cooperation and exchange of information in communication technology, energy, industrial and food technology and environment, IRNA reported.
3) The document was signed by Iranian Minister of Science and Technology Mostafa Moin and his Indian counterpart Murli Manohar Joshi in the capital Tehran.
4) The two sides have already agreed to set up a joint committee to assess the level of cooperation between Tehran and New Delhi, IRNA reported.
5) Relations between Iran and India have improved following a visit by India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Tehran in April.
6) Iran wants to export gas from its enormous reserves to India's emerging industries. But one hurdle is that the proposed 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) pipeline would have to go through Pakistan, India's traditional rival.
7) A joint Iranian-Indian committee has been conducting a feasibility study for laying an undersea pipeline to take Iranian gas directly to India. aad-as-hhr
2002-12-10
2002-12-16
2002-12-23
Iranian President due in Islamabad on a three-day visit to Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20021223.0007)
1) Iranian President Mohammed Khatami makes his first visit to Pakistan on Monday to press for a US$3.5 billion gas pipeline and to discuss regional security issues ranging from Afghanistan to a U.S.-led war on Iraq.
2) Pakistan's relations with Iran have been complicated by Pakistani support for the U.S. -led war on terror networks worldwide, including in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States has named Iran as part of an axis of evil that includes Iraq and North Korea.
3) Last week, Iranian envoy to Pakistan Sayed Sirajuddin Musavi said that Khatami's visit will ``totally bury all misunderstandings'' and will open a new chapter in relations between the two Islamic nations.
4) Khatami is to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and the country's newly elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
5) While here Khatami is to sign three agreements to improve bilateral trade and enhance cooperation in the filed of science and technology.
6) The big-ticket item on the agenda is a gas pipeline that Iran would like to run from its oil fields through Pakistan and into India, Islamabad's uneasy nuclear neighbor.
7) While it backs the pipeline, Pakistan says improved relations with India would make the project more likely. Pakistan and India have gone to war three times since gaining their independence from Britain in 1947.
8) Khatami's visit is also the first by an Iranian president since 1992.
2002-12-24
2002-12-25
Iranian president completes visit to Pakistan with talks on trade, culture; calls for talks on Kashmir
(APW_ENG_20021225.0127)
1) Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said Wednesday residents of Kashmir should decide the fate of the disputed province as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Pakistan that focused largely on security, politics and business.
2) During his stay in Islamabad, the capital, Khatami broached a host of sensitive issues with his Pakistani counterparts, including Iran's intention to push forward with a nuclear power plant that Washington fears could help it develop atomic weapons.
3) He also said he would help mend relations between Pakistan and India, and gave what appeared to be support for Pakistan's proposal for a referendum on Kashmir.
4) ``As a Muslim, a human and an Iranian, I believe the atrocities in Kashmir are intolerable. The Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the wishes of Kashmiris,'' he said. ``I appeal to Pakistan and Indian governments to hold talks and resolve the Kashmir issue amicably.''
5) More than 60,000 people have died in a 13-year insurgency in Indian-ruled Kashmir, where Muslim militants are battling for either outright independence or union with Islamic Pakistan.
6) Khatami, who is the first Iranian leader to visit Pakistan since 1992, also discussed Afghanistan, where Pakistan and Iran in the past have often found themselves backing different forces. During his stay, the two nations said they now widely agreed on Afghan issues.
7) At a joint news conference with Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the Iranian president said Tuesday ``there is nothing between Pakistan and Iran that can't be resolved through negotiations.''
8) The neighbors have said they are eager to foster better economic ties. They hope that will include a US$3.5 billion gas pipeline running from Iran through Pakistan to India. The deal hasn't been finalized, largely because of deep tensions between Pakistan and India.
9) Khatami offered to help ease the enmity between the two South Asian nuclear rivals and to address any reservations India might have about the pipeline, which experts say could provide major economic benefits to all three countries.
10) Addressing a gathering of businessmen in Lahore, Khatami called the project ``the pipeline of peace and friendship,'' adding that Iran ``regards it as a symbol of the strategic economic ties between our two countries.''
11) At a reception in Lahore, where the Iranian president was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, Khatami urged Muslims to unify.
12) ``We need to be united, not against any one, but united to solve our problems,'' he said. ``People have had enough of terrorism. It is time to unite and to spread peace and justice for progress.''
13) While in Lahore, Khatami visited Pakistan's Shahi Mosque, which houses the tomb of Pakistani philosopher and poet, Allama Iqbal.
14) Pakistani and Iranian officials Tuesday signed four agreements to boost bilateral trade and cooperation in defense, science and technology. Iran also suggested that chambers of commerce be set up in their respective nations.
15) They agreed to work harder to curb smuggling of petroleum products from Iran to Pakistan, according to government officials.
16) Iran reportedly expressed interest in the import of spare auto parts from Pakistan, and Pakistan has said Iranian traders would be able to use a nearly completed deep-sea port in Gwadar, on the Arabian Sea in southwestern Pakistan _ near Iran.
17) Officials also discussed the possibility of launching major business projects between private firms from their countries, though they didn't elaborate.
18) In addition to the pipeline, officials said they also talked about linking Pakistan and Iran with the former Soviet Central Asian republics with new highways and railroads.
19) Iran and Pakistan added that they would begin talks about closer cooperation on defense, but they declined to say what that might mean.
20) Such discussions could make the United States uneasy.
21) Washington has long been suspicious of Iran's nuclear program, accusing the country of sponsoring terrorism and labeling it, along with Iraq and North Korea, part of an ``axis of evil.''
22) Pakistan is a U.S. ally in the global war on international terrorism.
2002-12-26
Pakistani, Turkmen, Afghan leaders to sign US$3.2 billion pipeline deal
(APW_ENG_20021226.0129)
1) Leaders from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan met Thursday to work out the final details of an ambitious deal to build a gas pipeline through war-ravaged Afghanistan.
2) The long-delayed US$3.2-billion natural gas pipeline, known as the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, would carry gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan. It would be one of the first major investment projects in Afghanistan in decades.
3) The project promises to give an economic boost to Afghanistan but lacks solid financial backing. Investors are leery of the risks of doing business in a country where U.S.-led coalition forces are still hunting down remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
4) Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to his marble working residence in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat for the two-day meeting. Huge portraits of the three leaders hung outside the palace.
5) The meeting is to culminate Friday in the signing of a framework agreement defining legal mechanisms for setting up a consortium to build and operate the pipeline.
6) The pipeline would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan's ruined economy and create 12,000 jobs there.
7) Pakistan would get more than US$300 million in transit fees annually and gain access to the gas.
8) Turkmenistan, which possesses the fifth largest gas reserves in the world, would get a badly needed alternative route for gas exports. In 1994 Russia refused to transport gas from this former Soviet republic via the pipelines running through its territory.
9) ``Once the contract is signed tomorrow, different private companies and consortiums can take interest in the project should there be interest in it,'' said Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah. ``It is a project which is good for prosperity of all three countries.''
10) The Asian Development Bank is carrying out a study for the 1,460-kilometer (910-mile) pipeline, which would tap into natural gas wells at Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field. The field holds more than 2.83 trillion cubic meters (100 trillion cubic feet) in gas reserves.
11) The pipeline would carry up to 20 billion cubic meters (700 billion cubic feet) of gas a year.
12) The US$1 million worth study approved last week by ADB directors is slated to begin next month and be complete in June 2003, after which work on setting up a consortium will begin.
13) The pipeline was originally launched in 1997 by a consortium led by U.S. energy giant Unocal Corp. but abandoned after the United States fired cruise missiles into Afghanistan in 1998 in pursuit of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
14) The Afghan, Pakistani and Turkmen leaders relaunched the project at a meeting in May in Islamabad. The signing ceremony was originally scheduled for October but was postponed because Pakistani officials were busy forming a Cabinet and because of questions the Asian Development Bank raised about financial aspects of the plan.
15) The Japanese conglomerate Itochu has expressed interest in participating, but no company has joined the project. Unocal said it has no plans to do so.
16) India is the main potential buyer of the Turkmen gas that would be pumped through Afghanistan. But efforts to interest New Delhi in the project so far have been unsuccessful, with India reluctant to depend on its rival Pakistan.
17) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones said earlier this year that Washington would support the project as long as it is commercially viable.
18) Skeptics say the project would require an indefinite foreign military presence in Afghanistan.
19) The summit comes a month after the Turkmen government reported an assassination attempt against Niyazov. The authoritarian leader has ruled the five-million Central Asian nation with an iron hand since before the Soviet collapse, maintaining state control over the country's extensive energy resources.
20) (bb/ji)
2002-12-27
2002-12-30
Pakistani leader says for first time that nuclear Pakistan was ready to wage non-conventional war with India
(APW_ENG_20021230.0313)
1) Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appeared to acknowledge for the first time Monday that he had been ready to use atomic weapons against India earlier this year, while New Delhi countered that it would have gone to war despite the threat of nuclear war.
2) The statements appear to confirm fears voiced at the time that the world was close to witnessing its first bilateral nuclear war.
3) ``I personally conveyed messages to (Indian) Prime Minister Vajpayee through every international leader who came to Pakistan that if Indian troops moved a single step across the international border or Line of Control, they should not expect a conventional war from Pakistan,'' he told Pakistani Air Force veterans.
4) While he did not mention nuclear weapons specifically, his reference to a war other than a conventional one indicated the use of nuclear arsenals, which both Pakistan and India have.
5) ``We have defeated our enemy without going into war,'' Musharraf told the gathering of veterans. He didn't elaborate.
6) However, army spokesman Gen. Rashid Quereshi said the president was not referring to the use of nuclear weapons. Quereshi said that in fact Musharraf meant that the people of Pakistan together with the conventional army would ``neutralize the enemy's offensive. Nowhere did he say that Pakistan would use nuclear weapons at all.''
7) Tensions soared when both sides sent troops to their shared border after a deadly attack on the Indian Parliament last December. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for helping to mastermind the assault that killed 14 people, while Pakistan denied playing any part.
8) At that time, the U.S. Ambassador in New Delhi, Robert Blackwell, said there was a chance _ though a ``rather small'' one _ that the conflict between India and Pakistan could have led to nuclear war.
9) Blackwell said the threat of nuclear war caused the United States to speed up a warning to its citizens to leave India. Washington had long advised Americans to stay away from Pakistan.
10) The two had already fought three wars in 50 years and it seemed another war was imminent, until intensive international diplomacy brought the neighbors back from the brink.
11) India's army chief said Monday that Pakistan's nuclear capability would not have deterred it.
12) ``We were absolutely ready to go to war. Our forces were well located,'' Press Trust of India quoted Gen. Sunderajan Padmanabhan as saying. ``Such a decision (on whether to go to war) is ultimately a political decision.''
13) Tensions appeared to ease recently as both sides said they were stepping back from their war footing. After massing over a million troops along their common border, India announced in October that it began pulling back its troops; last month Pakistan said it was doing the same.
14) But there's little trust on either side.
15) On Monday, Pakistan's Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal accused India of not completely withdrawing its troops.
16) ``Pakistan has undeniable evidence that India has not completed its pullback of troops from the border and we are also maintaining our required strategic assets on the border,'' he told The Associated Press. ``India had tried to cheat us. ... This is not a fair play.''
17) India and Pakistan conducted tit-for-tat underground nuclear tests in 1998, prompting international condemnation and sanctions against both countries. But the economic penalties were lifted after Pakistan became an ally of the anti-terrorist coalition following the Sept. 11 attacks.
18) Both India and Pakistan insist they're responsible atomic powers. Each has ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads deep into each other's territory.
19) Pakistan and India share a 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) border, a section of which is the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. Both claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over their dispute.
20) The simmering Kashmir dispute dates back to the partition of the subcontinent when Pakistan was created in 1947 as a homeland for Muslims. Pakistan wants Kashmiris on both sides of the disputed border to vote whether a united Kashmir should belong to India or Pakistan.
21) India rejects the vote proposal and accuses Pakistan of backing militants who have been waging a bloody secessionist uprising in Indian Kashmir since 1989 that has killed more than 61,000 people. Militants want either outright independence or union with Islamic Pakistan. Kashmir is India's only Muslim majority state in the predominantly Hindu country.
22) While criticizing India Monday, the Pakistani defense minister also appeared to stretch out an olive branch.
23) ``We want peace in the region,'' he said. ``We hope one day better sense will prevail and India will come to the negotiating table.''
2003-02-06
Pakistani leader says closer ties with Russia will help resolve Kashmir dispute
(APW_ENG_20030206.0168)
1) Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that warmer ties between Islamabad and Moscow may help resolve his nation's long-running dispute with India over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
2) ``Russia, with long relations with India and now improving relations with Pakistan, is most well-placed to play key role in resolution of disputes and improving relations between India and Pakistan,'' Musharraf said at a news conference during his visit to Russia _ the first by a Pakistani leader in more than three decades.
3) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday after the talks with Musharraf in the Kremlin that he was ``confident the talks were a good basis for intensifying our bilateral dialogue _ of course without prejudice to our relationship to traditional allies.''
4) The talks ``will help us better coordinate the efforts of our two countries in addressing international questions, including in the anti-terror coalition,'' Putin said. He said he ``stressed the need to work consistently to resume a dialogue between India and Pakistan.''
5) ``We did discuss Pakistan-India relations, and in Pakistan-India relations, obviously, the focal point is Kashmir, but we didn't get involved in the methodology of resolution of the dispute,'' Musharraf said Thursday.
6) Musharraf invited Putin to Pakistan for what would be the first visit there by a Russian president. Putin accepted the invitation, though no date for the visit was announced.
7) India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 _ two of them over Kashmir, which both countries claim in its entirety. Last year, tensions between the two nuclear rivals over Kashmir put the entire world on edge until the two sides agreed to ease the standoff after intense international mediation.
8) During the Soviet era, Russia was the chief weapons supplier for India and supported New Delhi in the conflict over Kashmir. Moscow's relations with New Delhi slackened after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but warmed again later in the 1990s, as India again became a top customer for Russia's ailing weapons industries.
9) In a joint statement after Wednesday's talks, Russia and Pakistan underlined the need for ``the resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India to resolve all disputed issues on a just and impartial basis.'' Russia also hailed the withdrawal of Pakistani and Indian troops from the border and their move to exchange lists of nuclear facilities, the statement said.
10) In the statement, Russia and Pakistan also called for a political solution of the Iraq crisis.
11) As part of Musharraf's visit, top Russian and Pakistani officials signed accords on cooperation in science, culture and education. Putin said the sides might also sign a deal meant to increase trade in the energy, metals, telecommunications and aerospace industries.
12) Musharraf said Thursday that Russia and Pakistan had agreed to set up an inter-government commission to help expand bilateral economic ties.
13) Asked about a project of a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, Musharraf said that Islamabad had always supported it.
14) ``It's a win-win situation profitable for all three countries _ Iran, Pakistan and India,'' Musharraf said. ``Therefore, we are for it, and we have been saying that we will ensure the security of this gas pipeline and the security of supplies to India in accordance with international conventions.''
15) (vi/ee)
2003-02-11
Pakistan Prime Minister Jamali to visit Iran on Feb. 15: Information Minister
(APW_ENG_20030211.0005)
1) Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali is to begin a three-day visit to Iran over the weekend for talks with Iranian leaders on bilateral cooperation, Iraq and a proposed trans-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Pakistan's information minister said Tuesday.
2) During the visit, beginning Feb. 15, Jamali is to hold talks with President Mohammed Khatami and other senior Iranian officials, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press.
3) Talks between the two countries are to focus on cooperation in economy, science and technology, investment and the international situation, including Iraq.
4) ``We have good, trustworthy relations with Iran,'' Ahmed said.
5) The two sides are also to discuss a gas pipeline that Iran and India propose to build across Pakistan. India wants to import Iranian gas but is weary of stretching a pipeline overland across Pakistan, with whom it shares a history of tense relations.
6) The project to build the pipeline over at least 700 kilometers (420 miles) of Pakistani territory, has made little progress in more than a decade.
7) Relations between Pakistan and Iran have eased somewhat over the past few months.
8) Khatami visited Pakistan in December, the first Iranian leader to visit Islamabad in eight years.
2003-02-14
2003-02-21
Pakistan needs new gas pipeline to meet energy needs, industry executive says
(APW_ENG_20030221.0192)
1) Pakistan needs to finalize at least one of three proposed natural gas pipeline projects by the end of the year to meet soaring demand, a leading industry executive said.
2) ``We hope that by the end of 2003 one of three gas pipeline projects is finalized,'' said Munawar Baseer Ahmad, managing director of state-run utility Sui Southern Gas Co.
3) ``If construction doesn't start by 2006, we won't get the gas on time when we need it in 2009-10,'' he said in an interview Thursday.
4) One of the projects under discussion would carry natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India. The others are a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline and an underwater pipeline from Qatar to Pakistan.
5) Pakistan now produces about 70 million cubic meters (2.4 billion cubic feet) of natural gas a day, but demand is for 96 million cubic meters (3.4 billion cubic feet). Imported fuel oil makes up most of the energy shortfall.
6) Pakistan's import bill for crude oil and petroleum products totaled US$2.8 billion in the last fiscal year ended June 30, and is expected to be higher this year because of rapidly rising oil prices and higher domestic demand.
7) Ahmad said he recently visited Qatar to discuss the underwater gas pipeline project.
8) Government ministers from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan were to meet in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday to discuss their US$3.2 billion, 1,460-kilometer (905-mile) pipeline proposal.
9) As for the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, India is eager to import gas from Iran, but wants the pipeline to bypass its longtime rival, Pakistan. It's not clear whether Iran will agree.
10) (Saeed Azhar is a correspondent of Dow Jones Newswires.)
2003-02-22
Partners invite India to join US$3.2-billion natural gas pipeline project
(APW_ENG_20030222.0136)
1) Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan on Saturday invited India to join their US$3.2-billion natural gas pipeline project, indicating the plan would not be economically viable without New Delhi's participation, officials said on Saturday.
2) The offer to India came after talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, between Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister Yully Qurbanmuradov, Afghan Petroleum and Mines Minister Juma Mohammad Mohammadi and Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Nauraiz Shakoor.
3) ``Since the viability of the project depends on the extension of the pipeline to India, it was agreed ... (to) forward the documents of the TAP to the government of India, inviting them to join,'' they said in a joint statement, referring to the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline.
4) The 1,460-kilometer (910-mile) pipeline would transport natural gas from the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. It also would give cash-strapped Afghanistan US$300 million in annual fees and create 12,000 jobs in the country.
5) ``We are convinced that the gas pipeline project is good for whole of the region,'' Qurbanmuradov said at a news conference after the talks. ``It will help create many jobs in Afghanistan ... The project is also good for Pakistan's economy.''
6) ``The project is also good for us,'' Qurbanmuradov said.
7) Pakistan's bitter rival, India, is the main potential buyer of Turkmen gas, but so far has shown little interest in the project because of tense relations with Islamabad. New Delhi says its main concern is the pipeline through Pakistan won't be safe. Feuding tribes have attacked a major pipeline in Pakistan several times in recent months.
8) ``The pipeline will be totally safe in Afghanistan and I have given an assurance to Pakistan and Turkmenistan in this regard,'' Mohammadi told reporters after the talks. The officials agreed to meet again in Manila, Philippines, on April 8-9.
9) Begun in 1997, talks on a pipeline project were abandoned after the United States fired cruise missiles into Afghanistan in 1998 in an attack on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network holed up in the country.
10) The pipeline, which would carry up to 20 billion cubic meters (700 billion cubic feet) of gas a year, could easily be extended to India _ but that seems unlikely while tension remains. It would tap into natural gas wells at Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field, which holds more than 2.83 trillion cubic meters (100 trillion cubic feet) in gas reserves.
2003-05-05
Pakistan ready to get rid of nuclear weapons if India does: foreign ministry
(APW_ENG_20030505.0195)
1) Pakistan is ready to get rid of its nuclear arsenal if uneasy neighbor India also does, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.
2) ``As far as Pakistan is concerned, if India is ready to denuclearize, we would be happy to denuclearize,'' Aziz Ahmed Khan said. ``But it will have to be mutual.''
3) There was no immediate reaction from the Indian foreign ministry to the offer.
4) Pakistan and India declared themselves nuclear powers after detonating atomic devices in 1998. Neither arsenal is open to inspections and it's not known exactly what either Pakistan or India possesses.
5) Pakistan says it developed its nuclear arsenal in response to the perceived threat from India.
6) ``Our position has been that we were forced into the situation because of Indian nuclear ambitions,'' he said.
7) Pakistan has made this offer before as well as having sought a nuclear-free zone in South Asia, which India has rejected.
8) New Delhi says its nuclear program is not driven by Pakistan alone, an apparent reference to China _ the only other country India has gone to war against.
9) In recent months India has been trying to improve relations with China although it wasn't clear from New Delhi whether improved ties with Beijing could make it possible to reconsider Pakistan's offer.
10) India has fought four wars since independence from Britain; three with Pakistan and one with China in 1962.
11) Two of the wars between India and Pakistan have been over the disputed Kashmir region. The international community has been pressing the two countries to hold peace talks, fearing their relentless bickering could escalate into a nuclear confrontation.
2003-05-08
2003-05-27
Pakistan says work on $US3.5 billion gas pipeline project to start next year
(APW_ENG_20030527.0260)
1) Work on the long-awaited US$3.5 billion Pakistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan gas pipeline will start early next year, Pakistan's minister for petroleum and natural resources said Tuesday.
2) Nourez Shakoor's statement, carried by Pakistan's state-run news agency, came more than a month after he attended a meeting in the Philippines to discuss the 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) pipeline project. Oil and gas ministers from the three countries attended.
3) The pipeline would transport up to 39.2 billion cubic meters (yards) of natural gas from the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan through war-ravaged Afghanistan to Pakistan, and possibly to India. It also would give cash-strapped Afghanistan an estimated US$300 million in annual fees and create many jobs.
4) The Associated Press of Pakistan news agency quoted Shakoor as saying the work on the $US3.5 billion project will start in the first quarter of 2004 and be completed in 2 1/2 years.
5) Ministers of the three nations will meet in Turkmenistan June 3 to discuss the project again.
6) Pakistan wants its South Asian nuclear-rival India to join as an investor and to purchase gas to make the endeavor more economically feasible.
Pakistan appoints new ambassador to India, source says
(APW_ENG_20030527.0364)
1) In another move aimed at improving its strained relations with India, Pakistan has appointed a career diplomat as its new ambassador in New Delhi, a senior government official said Tuesday.
2) The appointment of Aziz Ahmad Khan _ the spokesman at Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and a former ambassador to Afghanistan _ has been communicated to India via diplomatic channels, the official said in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
3) Officials at the Foreign Ministry were not immediately available for comment, but Khan is likely to be accepted by India and assume his duties in New Delhi soon.
4) On May 9, India named Shiv Shankar Menon, a career diplomat, as its next ambassador to Pakistan, but he has not arrived yet.
5) Relations between South Asia's nuclear-armed neighbors have often been poor, but they reached a new low 18 months ago when militants staged a deadly attack on India's parliament, and New Delhi blamed Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. Pakistan denied the charge, but both countries massed troops on their borders, and the United States worked hard to prevent a war.
6) Last month, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee surprised many people by offering to conduct high-level peace talks with Pakistan officials, including the most sensitive issue between them, the deadly insurrection in Kashmir.
7) Since then, both countries have been making gestures to improve relations.
8) India and Pakistan have now each appointed ambassadors to replace the ones withdrawn 18 months ago. They also have discussed resuming air, train and bus transportation links.
9) On Monday, India said it will restart a bus service to Pakistan and release 70 Pakistani fishermen and 60 other civilian prisoners held in Indian jails. The bus service was hugely popular because thousands of divided families live on either side of the border.
10) Pakistan recently freed Indian prisoners from its jails, and Islamabad already is repairing a train station on its side of the border to resume service.
11) On Tuesday, before leaving on a trip to Europe, Vajpayee said India will continue to take steps needed to improve relations with Pakistan ahead of bilateral talks.
12) In Islamabad, Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Pakistan is ready to hold talks with India soon on many issues, including Kashmir. ``We want to resolve all problems with India through talks,'' he said.
13) Whatever happens, Kashmir is likely to be the thorniest issue.
14) More than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting between Indian forces and guerrillas struggling for independence in India's portion of Kashmir for 14 years. The Himalayan province is divided between India and Pakistan by a Line of Control.
15) India accuses Pakistan of backing the insurgents. Pakistan says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the rebels.
2003-10-20
2003-10-21
Pakistan premier leaves for Iran amid suspicions of nuclear collaboration
(APW_ENG_20031021.0096)
1) Pakistan's prime minister left for Iran Tuesday for talks on economic cooperation and energy supplies, in a visit that puts together leaders of two countries with nuclear ambitions.
2) Zafarullah Khan Jamali was scheduled to meet President Mohammed Khatami, who last December made the first visit to Pakistan by an Iranian head of state in more than a decade. Relations between the two countries were strained for years over their support for opposite sides in the Afghan civil war.
3) The trip comes as the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany were in Tehran to persuade Iran to open its nuclear program to more intrusive international inspection to prove it is not developing weapons.
4) Experts have pointed to evidence indicating that Pakistan may be helping Iran in its suspected nuclear weapons program. Both countries have denied collaborating in developing nuclear arms.
5) The discovery of traces of weapons-grade material on Iranian soil reinforced suspicions of a secret weapons program. Iran has acknowledged running a uranium enrichment program for nonmilitary purposes but denied developing weapons, and said the material came from contaminated equipment bought from abroad. Experts said if that explanation is true, the source of the contamination may be Pakistan.
6) Iran is facing an Oct. 31 deadline for full disclosure of its nuclear secrets, set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. It could face U.N. Security Council sanctions if it is found in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty banning the spread of nuclear arms.
7) Pakistan and its archrival India have both tested nuclear explosives and are developing missile programs capable of launching nuclear warheads.
8) ``I will discuss all major issues with Iranian leaders,'' Jamali told the state-run Pakistan Television before boarding the plane to Tehran. He described Pakistan's relations with Iran as ``very good,'' saying he will focus on economic cooperation during the three-day visit.
9) Jamali will also press Iranian leaders to build a gas pipeline to Pakistan, said Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's Information Minister, on Monday.
10) The pipeline could also be stretched to India, Pakistan's eastern neighbor, and might help overcome the two South Asian nations' chronic energy shortage.
11) India has been less than enthusiastic about the project, fearing the pipeline could be vulnerable to closure by Pakistan during periods of political crisis. The two countries have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
12) Ahmed said Pakistan was prepared to guarantee the pipeline's safety.
13) The 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline would help India overcome its energy deficit. Pakistan also would have access to Iranian gas and would earn about US$600 million annually in transit fees.
2003-10-24
2003-11-24
Iran offers to pay for large part of proposed gas pipeline to India through Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20031124.0299)
1) The Iranian government offered Monday to pay for the bulk of a proposed US$3 billion natural gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, in a bid to get New Delhi to sign onto the project.
2) ``The Iranian government is willing to bear 60 percent of the total cost of the pipeline,'' Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad H. Adeli said in New Delhi.
3) Iran could guarantee India ``a long-term, credible gas supply at the lowest cost and provide an assurance regarding the safe delivery of the gas,'' Adeli added.
4) The 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline would save India around US$300 million a year in energy costs, he said.
5) The project was proposed in 1996, but was shelved because of persistent tensions between India and Pakistan, who are in a decades-old dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
6) India's security fears remain the stumbling block to the project. New Delhi fears that a gas pipeline through Pakistan could be sabotaged, or be used as a political weapon by Islamabad.
7) But renewed talk of the pipeline coincides with recent peace moves by India and Pakistan. Last month, Pakistan said it would guarantee India a secure gas supply if it joined the project.
8) Experts say the project would benefit all three countries. Iran wants a market for its large natural gas reserves. The pipeline would help India overcome its energy deficit, while Pakistan also would have access to the gas, and earn about US$600 million annually in transit fees.
2003-12-10
2003-12-12
2004-02-18
Indian foreign minister says no threat yet of Pakistani nukes in terrorist hands
(APW_ENG_20040218.0123)
1) India doesn't immediately face a nuclear threat from terrorists because of the proliferation of Pakistani nuclear weapons technology, but it could in the future, the Indian foreign minister said Wednesday.
2) ``If it goes on like this, then the danger is that the same technology can be acquired by the terrorist groups and that is as much a concern of the international community as it is India's concern,'' said External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, when asked by reporters in the southern city of Hyderabad whether India faced a current nuclear threat from terrorists.
3) At this stage, ``there is no such threat,'' he said.
4) India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence in 1947. India has long accused Pakistan of arming militants who carry out attacks in the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge.
5) Earlier this month, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed to leaking nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan.
6) India _ involved in steps to resume a peace dialogue with Pakistan for the first time in 2 1/2 years _ has given a muted response to the revelations, as has the United States, which considers Musharraf a key ally in its global war on terrorism.
7) Both Pakistan and India conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998 and neither has signed the international nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
8) ``Nuclear proliferation is not a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan,'' Sinha said Wednesday. ``India has no wish to make it into an India-Pakistan issue.''
9) ``We today have non-state actors in the form of various terrorist groups and it is everyone's concern, including India, that nuclear weapons should not fall into the hands of terrorists.''
10) Until late last year, senior Indian Cabinet ministers had repeatedly called Pakistan an epicenter of terrorism. India alleges Pakistan harbors militants accused of planning and carrying out bombings and attacks in its territory.
11) But Indian leaders have refrained from such statements since the latest effort to improve relations began last fall with a cease-fire along the frontier.
2004-07-26
India, Iran discuss possible gas pipeline through Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20040726.0281)
1) Iran and India on Monday discussed a proposed US$3 billion gas pipeline through Pakistan, an idea the two countries have been pursuing for the past seven years without success, an official said.
2) "The matter was discussed. It is going to be discussed further, studied further," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters after talks between the foreign ministers of India and Iran, Natwar Singh and Kamal Kharrazi .
3) Iran has been pursuing the pipeline proposal with India and Pakistan since 1996, but tensions between the two South Asian nations over the Himalayan region of Kashmir have blocked progress.
4) The previous Indian government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee even considered laying the pipeline under the sea to avoid Pakistani territory.
5) However, India's new government, which took office last month, appears to have softened the country's position.
6) Kharrazi also met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit.
7) Singh said he has an "open mind" toward Iran's proposal for a pipeline to supply natural gas to India through Pakistan, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
8) Iran says the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline would save India around US$300 million a year in energy costs.
9) Pakistan also would have access to the gas, and earn an estimated US$600 million a year in transit fees.
2004-08-08
Pakistani foreign minister will visit Iran to strengthen ties
(APW_ENG_20040808.0082)
1) Pakistan's foreign minister was to travel to Iran Sunday to strengthen economic cooperation and discuss a proposed multibillion-dollar gas pipeline, a government spokesman and media reports said.
2) Khursheed Kasuri will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi and other senior Iranian leaders during the two-day visit, said Masood Khan, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. Kasuri was scheduled to leave for Iran later Sunday.
3) Pakistan's Geo television station reported that Kasuri would also discuss the prospects for a US$3 billion (euro2.434 billion) gas pipeline that Iran wants to build to India.
4) The proposed pipeline would be built through Pakistani territory, but has been delayed because of tensions between Pakistan and India, who remain in dispute over Kashmir.
5) Pakistan and India control parts of Kashmir but each claims the region in its entirety. They have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.
6) India has been skeptical about laying the pipeline through Pakistani territory, fearing it might be vulnerable to sabotage. Pakistan has promised to protect the pipeline.
7) Iran has said the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline will save India around US$300 million (euro243 million) a year in energy costs and Pakistan will earn an estimated US$600 million (euro486 million) in transit fees from the pipeline and will have access to the gas.
2004-09-30
India ready to discuss natural gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan: expert
(APW_ENG_20040930.0306)
1) The Indian government is willing to discuss a US$3 billion (euro 2.4 billion) gas pipeline project from Iran through Pakistan as long as Islamabad considers other trade deals, an Indian energy expert said Thursday.
2) "Given the fact that oil has hit US$50 a barrel, there is somewhat greater urgency to explore this possibility," R.K. Pachauri, director-general of the privately run Energy and Resources Institute, told reporters after meeting India's Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer.
3) Iran has been pursuing the pipeline proposal with India and Pakistan since 1996, but tensions between the two South Asian nations over the Himalayan region of Kashmir have blocked progress.
4) The previous Indian government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee even considered laying the pipeline under the sea to avoid Pakistani territory. However, that plan would cost three times more.
5) India's new government, which took office in May, appears to have softened its stance on the pipeline proposal.
6) "There has been a shift on this side. Now I think India is willing to talk about the pipeline as long as other trading opportunities are also considered," Pachauri said.
7) Iran says the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline would save India about US$300 million (euro 241 million) a year in energy costs.
8) Pakistan also would have access to the gas, and earn an estimated US$600 million (euro 483 million) a year in transit fees.
9) Pachauri, who is leaving for Islamabad on Friday to attend a meeting of South Asian experts, said he would discuss the matter with Pakistani officials.
10) India, he said, could also use the imported gas to produce electricity and export part of it to Pakistan.
11) "India also was keen to sell diesel to Pakistan," he said.
12) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf discussed the possibility of the gas pipeline during their first meeting in New York last week.
13) Bangladesh has so far refused to export gas to India despite its huge natural gas reserves, and Myanmar remains a potential supplier, Pachauri said.
14) "There is a possibility of tapping the gas reserves in Myanmar, which I hope the government will pursue seriously. But the most attractive option appears to be the southern gas fields in Iran," he said.
2004-10-06
India favors energy cooperation with archrival Pakistan, says Indian petroleum minister
(APW_ENG_20041006.0195)
1) India's petroleum and natural gas minister says New Delhi is seeking energy cooperation with Islamabad in the wake of last month's summit between the leaders of the two South Asian rivals.
2) Although no specific meetings on energy cooperation have been scheduled, India is considering selling diesel to Pakistan, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.
3) Aiyar also said a US$3 billion (euro 2.4 billion) pipeline linking India to Iran's massive gas fields through Pakistan could be the key to ensuring the country's energy security. "If we are seriously fossil-fuel deficient, we will need to have an alternative."
4) "General improvement of atmosphere could facilitate some types of contact" between India and Pakistan, he said, referring to the proposed pipeline.
5) However, he said legal and commercial security were essential for energy projects.
6) Tensions between the two South Asian nations over the Himalayan region of Kashmir have blocked progress in the project, proposed by Iran in 1996.
7) In a meeting in New York last month, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf discussed the possibility of running a natural gas pipeline between their nations, saying "such a project could contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the people of both countries."
8) Iran says the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline would save India about US$300 million (euro 243.8 million) a year in energy costs.
9) Pakistan also would have access to the gas, and earn an estimated US$600 million (euro 487.6 million) a year in transit fees.
10) India's energy demands are rising at a rate second only to China.
11) Aiyar said India was rapidly seeking to find new energy sources both at home and abroad. At home, the minister said, his government was seeking foreign direct investment in upstream and downstream ventures.
12) He noted that a number of foreign companies, such as Canada's Niko Resources and British-based Cairn Energy, have made substantial gas finds in India in recent months.
13) On trends in global oil prices, Aiyar said prices at or above US$50 (euro 40.6) are "inexplicable."
2004-11-19
Prime Minister says Pakistan to press on with peace talks to resolve Kashmir dispute
(APW_ENG_20041119.0309)
1) Pakistan will press ahead with talks to peacefully resolve the Kashmir dispute, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Friday, days ahead of his first visit to India since taking office three months ago.
2) His comments, made in a televised address to the nation, came as other Pakistani officials chided Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for saying his country would not consider altering existing borders in the divided Himalayan region.
3) "Pakistan will carry forward the current process of composite dialogue with India to find a lasting and just solution of the Kashmir dispute," Aziz said, adding that it should be in line with the aspirations of Kashmiris.
4) Aziz is due on Tuesday to make his first trip to India since taking office in August, and is to hold talks with Singh _ expected to touch on Kashmir and a proposal for a US$3 billion (euro2.3 billion) gas pipeline running from Iran through Pakistan to India. His visit comes ahead of planned India-Pakistan talks on Kashmir next month.
5) He will also meet with leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella group of Kashmiri political and religious groups based in Indian-held Kashmir, a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
6) The long-standing enmity between India and Pakistan centers on their competing territorial claims to Kashmir, over which they have fought two wars since 1947.
7) India accuses Pakistan of helping Islamic insurgents who are fighting for Indian-held Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan _ a charge that Islamabad denies. Both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety.
8) Singh made a rare visit Wednesday to the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, which coincided with India's withdrawal of some of its troops from the region _ seen as a goodwill gesture as the nuclear-armed neighbors pursue wide-ranging negotiations on ending five decades of hostility.
9) The Indian leader offered to hold talks on Kashmir "with anyone and everyone," but ruled out any redrawing of the territory's borders.
10) That irked Pakistan, which says any solution based on the existing military Line of Control that separates the Indian- and Pakistan-controlled areas of Kashmir is unacceptable. It was also seen in Pakistan as a rebuff to suggestions made by President Gen. Musharraf last month to seek an end to the Kashmir deadlock. He said that parts of Kashmir could become independent, placed under joint Indian-Pakistani control, or put under U.N. administration.
11) Late Thursday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri advised India's leader to avoid "controversial statements," saying they could "strengthen the hands of extremists in both countries" unhappy with the peace process.
12) He said the relations were at a "very delicate stage and required careful nurturing."
13) In his address, Aziz gave an overview of his government's policies, including in social, economic and foreign policy. He paid tribute to Pakistan's armed forces and described the nation's defense as "impregnable."
14) He said that work on Pakistan's nuclear and missile program was progressing, and with that capability, "no one can dare to cast an evil eye on Pakistan."
15) Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror and Aziz's remarks came shortly after New Delhi criticized Washington over its reported decision to sell US$1 billion (euro770 million) in weapons to Pakistan, saying it could cast a shadow on New Delhi's relations with both Washington and Islamabad.
16) Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, meeting in Washington with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, "conveyed the government of India's strong concern at the reports of sales by the Unites States to Pakistan," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in New Delhi.
17) The Indian comment came a day after Pakistan's state-run news agency reported that the U.S. defense department had notified Congress that the proposed sale to Pakistan is passing through its final stages and is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
India opposes Washington's reported decision to make US$1 billion weapons sale to Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20041119.0314)
1) A top Indian official has criticized Washington's reported decision to sell US$1 billion in weapons to Pakistan, saying it could cast a shadow on New Delhi's relations with the United States as well as with Islamabad, the foreign ministry said Friday.
2) Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, meeting in Washington with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, "conveyed the government of India's strong concern at the reports of sales by the Unites States to Pakistan," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in New Delhi.
3) The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported late Thursday that the U.S. defense department had notified Congress that the proposed sale to Pakistan is passing through its final stages and is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
4) India and Pakistan, neighbors and longtime rivals, are often sensitive to large-scale arms purchases by the other that might tilt the region's strategic balance.
5) The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it had notified the U.S. Congress of the possible sale of eight P3C surveillance planes, 2,000 TOW antitank missiles, and six Phalanx gun systems, which are mounted on ships to shoot down incoming antiship missiles. However, it said no sales had been concluded.
6) The total cost of the items would be more than US$1.2 billion (euro925 million), it said.
7) A five-decade-old territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir and attacks by Pakistan-based Islamic militants on targets in Indian territory are at the heart of the often-hostile relationship between the two countries. India charges that Pakistan provides financial and logistical support to the militants. Pakistan denies that, and says it is cracking down on the separatists.
8) But India and Pakistan are in the early stages of a wide-ranging peace process to try and resolve their disputes, including the confrontation over Kashmir, which is divided between them. Both sides claim the region in its entirety.
9) Meeting Thursday with Rice and other top American officials, the Indian foreign secretary "pointed out the repercussions of such sales on the India-Pakistan dialogue which is currently poised at a sensitive juncture," Sarna told reporters.
10) Pakistani officials say the items sought by Pakistan include F-16 jets and other sophisticated equipment, the Pakistan press agency reported. Some news reports in India say the demands for F-16s has been rejected.
11) Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan refused to provide details.
12) The proposed sale "is under consideration, and this is something in the pipeline, and we can express satisfaction over burgeoning relations between Pakistan and the United States in the area of defense," he said.
13) India said the arms sale could also affect the increasingly close ties between India and the United States.
14) "The decision to supply sophisticated weapons to Pakistan will inevitably impact on positive sentiments and goodwill that have come to characterize India-United States relations," said Sarna.
15) India-United States ties have becoming increasingly close in recent years, including cooperation in missile defense, space research, civilian nuclear programs, trade and agriculture. Two years ago, Washington lifted economic sanctions imposed on India after it held nuclear tests in May 1998.
2004-11-23
Pakistan prime minister arrives in to India to take forward peace talks
(APW_ENG_20041123.0126)
1) Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived in India on Tuesday to help push forward a fragile peace process initiated by the nuclear-armed rivals earlier this year.
2) Aziz was received at the New Delhi airport by India's external affairs minister, Natwar Singh.
3) He will meet a number of top Indian officials during his two-day visit.
4) On Wednesday, his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to include discussions about Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region at the root of decades of Indo-Pakistani distrust, and the goodwill gained since January as both sides eased visa restrictions, resumed diplomatic contacts, and relaunched air and rail links.
5) "It is the first visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to India, and we hope it will help improve relations between Pakistan and India," said Masood Khan, spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry, in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
6) The biggest challenge for the leaders of the neighbors is to "find such a solution for (the) Kashmir issue which is acceptable to Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris," Khan said.
7) Aziz is visiting the region as chairman of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, which includes Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.
8) India's prime minister and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf are likely to meet in the Bangladeshi capital during the SAARC summit in January.
9) On Tuesday, Aziz was scheduled to meet India's external affairs, main opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani, and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who kicked off the peace process in January.
10) Speaking Monday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Aziz said his trip to New Delhi was part of Pakistan's commitment to peaceful relations with its neighbors, including India. "My visit should not be viewed as a transactional process, but as an ongoing process."
11) The decades-old issue of Kashmir, the Himalayan region that is divided between the two sides and claimed by both, and attacks by Pakistan-based Islamic militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, are at the heart of festering tensions between the two sides.
12) Aziz could raise a plan suggested by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month to solve the dispute. Musharraf suggested the two countries demilitarize Kashmir, and make some areas independent, placing them under joint Indian-Pakistani control, or putting them under the administration of the United Nations.
13) India asked Pakistan to raise any potential plans formally, and Manmohan Singh said India would not redraw its international borders. Musharraf accused the Indians of inflexibility in recent days, causing an unexpected souring of public dialogue between the two sides ahead of the prime ministers' meeting.
14) Aziz is scheduled to meet Kashmir's separatist political leaders during his visit. India says Pakistan provides arms, training and money to the separatist militants. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only provides diplomatic support.
15) A lasting peace could mean extensive trade links and reductions in military spending.
16) On Wednesday, Aziz also is scheduled to meet Petroleum Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to discuss the prospects of a US$3 billion (euro 2.4 billion) pipeline through Pakistan linking India to Iran's massive gas fields.
17) Aziz will conclude his visit Wednesday by meeting Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.
18) He returns to Pakistan on Wednesday night.
2004-11-24
India noncommittal as Pakistan's prime minister pushes for joint gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20041124.0098)
1) Despite improving relations with Pakistan, India's oil minister remained noncommittal Wednesday about joining a proposed plan to build a pipeline through Pakistan to link India with Iran's massive gas fields.
2) Pakistani Prime Minister Saukat Aziz revived the 8-year-old proposal Wednesday at a meeting with petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyer, who insisted that the plan had to be linked to overall progress in trade and economic ties.
3) "The economic relations between India and Pakistan must not be limited to just one area," Aiyer said. "We want to move forward in every sector of economic cooperation."
4) He said the meeting focused on the energy situation in the two countries and Pakistan's efforts to bring gas from Iran.
5) Although Pakistan could independently build a pipeline from Iran, it would be financially more viable if the venture was expanded with the participation of Indian companies, Aiyer quoted Aziz as saying. India would also benefit because the pipeline would help bridge its widening energy gap, with demand increasingly outpacing supply.
6) The pipeline discussions come amid often-stumbling peace talks between the two longtime rivals. While those talks have hit snags in recent weeks, with tough talk recently on the disputed territory of Kashmir, their ties have improved dramatically since 2002, when they nearly went to war.
7) Iran has been pursuing the idea of the US$3 billion pipeline with India and Pakistan since 1996, but tensions between the two South Asian nations over Kashmir have blocked progress. The previous Indian government even considered laying the pipeline under the sea to avoid going through Pakistani territory _ a plan that would have tripled the cost.
8) In the past, India also linked its participation in the pipeline to Pakistan's willingness to provide a transit route for trade between India and Central Asia. Currently, Indian exporters move their goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia through Iran, incurring higher transportation costs because of the longer route.
9) "There must be a wider perspective on all issues of economic and trade cooperation," Aiyer told reporters. The pipeline "is only one of those issues."
10) Aiyer's comments came ahead of a meeting between Aziz and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Aziz also was to meet with Commerce Minister Kamal Nath later Wednesday.
11) Aiyer said New Delhi also wants Pakistan to extend it "most-favored nation" status.
12) India gave such status to Pakistan in 1995, and has demanded Pakistan reciprocate. The agreement would mean Pakistan would not give any other country lower import duties than those it places on products from India.
13) It also would require Pakistan to lift non-tariff curbs on imports from India _ such as quantity limits and stiff regulations _ in line with norms set by the World Trade Organization.
14) Pakistan says its domestic industry would be swamped by cheap imports from India if it eased trade barriers. Pakistanis are barred from buying refrigerators, air conditioners and cars from India, although they pay much more to get them from other countries.
15) Negotiations on trade issues have been held back by political differences over Kashmir _ the divided Himalayan region that has sparked two of three wars between the South Asian nuclear rivals.
2004-12-03
2005-01-07
Minister: India, Iran close to finalizing gas pipeline deal through Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20050107.0669)
1) India and Iran are close to finalizing a US$3 billion (euro2.27 billion) pipeline deal that would bring Iranian gas to India through Pakistan, India's petroleum minister said Friday.
2) "We really are very close to an agreement," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. "A technical and commercial delegation (from Iran) will visit India Feb. 14 to continue the discussions."
3) Iran originally proposed the pipeline in 1996, but the project never got off the ground, mainly because of the shaky relations between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan _ the two countries almost went to war in 2002 after India blamed Pakistan for a terrorist attack on its parliament.
4) However, relations between the neighbors have improved markedly in the past year after their leaders agreed to resume a dialogue to end decades-old hostilities.
5) Pakistani Prime Minister Saukat Aziz visited New Delhi last month and revived the 8-year-old proposal on the gas pipeline, which would benefit all the three countries.
6) Iran maintains that the 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile) proposed pipeline would save India about US$300 million (euro227 million) a year in energy costs.
7) Pakistan is keen on the project because it would also have access to the gas and earn an estimated US$600 million (euro455 million) a year in transit fees if the pipeline extends to India.
8) Aiyar said the pipeline, which would carry gas from Iran's giant South Pars field, would "fill a huge gap in supplying gas to India."
9) India's gas consumption is expected to rise to 400 million cubic feet (11 million cubic meters) a day, compared with the current supply of just 100 million cubic feet (2.8 million cubic meters) a day.
10) Aiyar declined to comment on how the three countries would participate in the project. He also didn't disclose if India and Pakistan had held separate talks on the issue.
11) Aiyer said: "All I care about is getting the gas." He said "everything should come together" when he makes an official visit to Tehran in June.
12) In the past, India had linked its participation in the pipeline to Pakistan's willingness to provide a transit route for trade between India and Central Asia. Currently, Indian exporters move their goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia through Iran, incurring higher transportation costs because of the longer route.
2005-02-09
2005-02-12
2005-02-14
2005-02-15
Karzai urges visiting Indian foreign minister to favor gas pipeline through Afghanistan
(APW_ENG_20050215.0505)
1) President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday urged a visiting Indian minister to consider an oil pipeline from Central Asia through impoverished Afghanistan to meet India's pressing energy needs.
2) India is weighing whether to meet its expanding energy requirements with pipelines from Turkmenistan or Iran, both of which would pass through the territory of archrival Pakistan, or from Myanmar in the east.
3) In closed-door talks with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in his Kabul palace, Karzai "expressed hope that India will look favorably at the pipeline project going through Afghanistan from Turkmenistan," according to a statement from his office.
4) "The project has significant economic benefit to Afghanistan and the region," Karzai said.
5) Singh, who left Kabul on Tuesday afternoon for a two-day visit to Pakistan, made no public comment on the pipeline.
6) Rival U.S. and Argentine oil companies tried to persuade the former ruling Taliban regime to let them build a pipeline through western Afghanistan in the 1990s and high oil prices have helped revive interest since the hardline regime's ouster in 2001.
7) Insecurity and wrangling among the governments are a serious obstacle, but the plan has received new impetus from thawing relations between India and Pakistan, as well as between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
8) The Afghan statement said Singh's visit was devoted to promoting bilateral trade and investment, and praised India's contribution to Afghanistan's reconstruction.
9) India has supplied dozens of trucks and jeeps to Afghanistan's new U.S.-trained army and is involved in reconstruction projects including a multimillion dollar dam near the western city of Herat.
10) Singh formally handed over another 50 vehicles to the army on Tuesday morning and opened a new surgical unit at an Indian-funded children's hospital.
2005-02-16
Indian foreign minister in Pakistan for peace talks, amid hopes for cross-Kashmir bus service
(APW_ENG_20050216.0176)
1) India's foreign minister was in Pakistan for talks Wednesday on a proposed bus service in divided Kashmir and a transnational gas pipeline, as expectations rose for concrete results from a yearlong peace process.
2) Natwar Singh arrived late Tuesday and was to meet with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before official talks later Wednesday with his counterpart, Khursheed Kasuri.
3) It is the first bilateral visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 1989 and is part of a dialogue begun early last year to bury decades of hatred between the South Asian nuclear-armed rivals.
4) After touching down in Islamabad, Singh told reporters that "substantial progress" had been made in the bilateral relationship, and his visit would "provide further impetus to the present India-Pakistan process."
5) "We are looking at additional transportation links between us," he said.
6) Indian newspapers say India and Pakistan have overcome differences over travel documents that would be issued to passengers on the proposed bus service between the capitals of Indian- and Pakistani-held Kashmir.
7) That would pave the way for the first direct road link between the two portions of Kashmir since the bitter dispute over the Himalayan region took root when India and Pakistan achieved independence from Britain in 1947. It would also cheer thousands of families divided by the military Line of Control that now divides Kashmir.
8) Analysts say the bus service would be a significant confidence-building measure for the peace process, which has made no headway in the countries' competing territorial claims to Kashmir _ the cause of two of their three wars since independence.
9) Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said Tuesday that the level of confidence-building between the two had been "very fast" but there was yet to be a "tangible beginning" of a resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
10) Other irritants persist. Last month, Pakistan sought World Bank arbitration over a dam India is building in its portion of Kashmir. Pakistan fears the dam will deprive farmers of water in the Punjab, its main agricultural province.
11) Another issue up for discussion Wednesday will be a proposed US$3 billion gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and possibly to India.
12) Pakistan is keen to push forward construction of a 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline which has been delayed for years, mainly because of Indian security concerns over running the pipeline through Pakistani territory.
13) In a boost for the project, India's Cabinet recently approved talks with Pakistan and other countries on such pipelines to help satisfy India's burgeoning energy demands.
Pakistan and India agree to start historic cross-Kashmir bus service
(APW_ENG_20050216.0688)
1) More than a year of peace talks between Pakistan and India bore fruit Wednesday, with the two sides agreeing to start the first-ever bus service between the capitals of divided Kashmir.
2) The bus service along a rutted mountain road in the folds of the Himalayas will reconnect families separated for decades by the Pakistani and Indian armies. It also raises hopes that these two nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 might one day find a permanent peace.
3) The bus service, between Muzzafarabad on the Pakistani side and Srinigar on the Indian side, will start April 7, according to a joint statement read out during a visit by Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.
4) Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said travel would be granted through an "entry permit system" _ rather than a passport _ once the identities of travelers are verified. Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said it would be open to all Indians and Pakistanis, not just those from Kashmir.
5) "We have come a long way over the past year or so. I'm convinced that cooperation between our two countries is not just a desire and an objective, it is in today's context an imperative," Singh said. "The people of both countries clearly desire it."
6) Singh's visit is the first bilateral trip by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 1989 and is part of a dialogue to bury 57 years of hatred between the South Asian nuclear-armed rivals.
7) The deal has been in the works for months, but its consumation was still dramatic and the most tangible success from more than 14 months of peace talks that have seemed stalled at times. It is a welcome change from the rhetoric of the past few weeks, which have seen New Delhi and Islamabad squabble over a dam India is building on its side of Kashmir. Pakistan has asked the World Bank to step in to help solve the dispute.
8) Kashmir has been at the root of two of three wars that Pakistan and India have fought since they achieved independence from Britain in 1947. Both sides claim the region in its entirety.
9) More than 66,000 people have died since an Islamic insurgency began about 15 years ago, many at the hands of Indian troops. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of funding and training the rebels. Islamabad insists it gives only moral and political support.
10) The number of terror attacks has dropped as the political situation has thawed, evidence, New Delhi says, that Pakistani leaders can turn the violence on and off.
11) While speaking positively of the future, Singh also cautioned that any progress could only be achieved if attacks in the region are curtailed.
12) "Of course progress can only be sustained in an atmosphere free from terrorism and violence," Singh said.
13) An independence leader in India's portion of Kashmir, Javed Mir, praised the agreement and said he hoped it would lead to a wider peace deal.
14) "It will be an inaugural step toward resolving the dispute," said Mir, leader of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Forum, which has been fighting for Kashmir's independence. "The problem is so complex that it cannot be solved in one go, but such meaningful steps will help."
15) On Pakistan's side of the region, residents had mixed reactions to the deal, with some saying it was a step in the right direction, and others warning it was merely window-dressing.
16) "It's great. Now I will travel to the Indian portion of Kashmir to see my relatives," said Khalid Dar, 38, an employee at the state electricity department. "I never imagined the two countries could reach such a decision ... I will travel on the first available bus to Srinagar."
17) The road between the two capitals is narrow and in disrepair in some stretches, and it passes through villages damaged countless times by cross-border shelling.
18) Pakistan and Indian authorities will have to build a bridge over a dry stream near the military dividing line because the pre-partition wooden bridge is decayed.
19) Also on the agenda in the Islamabad talks were discussions about a US$3 billion (euro2.3 billion), 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) gas pipeline from Iran which has been delayed for years, mainly because of Indian security concerns over running the pipeline through Pakistani territory.
20) Singh said the two sides had agreed to look into the possibility of supporting the pipeline, providing Indian concerns about security and an assured gas supply from the pipeline were addressed.
21) Singh said that in meetings between now and July, Indian and Pakistani officials would work to finalize agreements on pre-notification of missile tests and memorandums of understanding between the two countries' coast guards and counter-narcotics authorities.
22) Officials would also hold discussions on pacts for reducing the risk of nuclear accidents and preventing accidents at sea, he said.
23) Singh _ who arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday from neighboring Afghanistan _ also met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the nation's ultimate powerbroker.
2005-02-23
Afghan president to visit India for talks on regional cooperation
(APW_ENG_20050223.0146)
1) Afghan President Hamid Karzai aimed to boost economic cooperation and express thanks for India's assistance rebuilding his war-shattered nation during a trip Wednesday to New Delhi.
2) During the three-day visit, the Afghan leader planned to present "a vision for the region as a whole that should really move forward to more prosperity and more stability, and India as a leader in this region has a big role in that," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said. He did not elaborate.
3) Karzai was scheduled to hold talks with India's President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the governing Congress Party.
4) He also was to address The India Today Conclave, a forum looking at India's future, whose other speakers are expected to include Pakistani premier Shaukat Aziz, Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul and Singh.
5) The trip comes eight days after a visit to Kabul by Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, during which Karzai urged Delhi to back a gas pipeline from Central Asia through impoverished Afghanistan.
6) India is weighing whether to meet its expanding energy requirements with pipelines from Turkmenistan or Iran, both of which would pass through the territory of archrival Pakistan, or from Myanmar in the east.
7) With relations between India and Pakistan thawing, Delhi is also pressing Islamabad to allow it to transport goods to Afghanistan through Pakistan instead of taking the current circuitous route via Iran.
8) India supports Afghanistan's decrepit health sector and has supplied dozens of trucks and jeeps to Afghanistan's new U.S.-trained army. It is also involved in building roads and a multimillion dollar dam near the western city of Herat.
9) Ludin said India was a country "close the president's heart" but that the Afghan leader would not have time to visit the northern city of Simla, where Karzai was a student when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
2005-02-24
India to upgrade airline, TV satellite links in Afghanistan
(APW_ENG_20050224.0608)
1) India signed agreements Thursday to upgrade civil aviation facilities and television satellite links in war-shattered Afghanistan, as visiting President Hamid Karzai concluded talks with Indian leaders, a government spokesman said.
2) India will train Afghans in airport management, air traffic control, navigation, safety and maintenance of aircraft, said Navtej Sarna, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman.
3) He also said Indian Airlines would begin flying to Kabul from New Delhi beginning March 27.
4) Another agreement envisages India helping rebuild television facilities in the eastern city of Jalalabad and other places in Nangarhar province, Sarna said.
5) India has already helped Afghanistan set up a series of satellite television facilities and pledged US$400 million (euro302 million) for reconstruction work in the areas of hydroelectric power, road construction, agriculture, industry, telecommunication, education and health, Sarna said.
6) Karzai also told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he had talked to Pakistani officials about creating a trade corridor so Indian goods could go from India through Pakistan and into Afghanistan.
7) New Delhi is also pressing Islamabad for such an agreement, to end the current circuitous route, through Iran.
8) A statement from Karzai's office said he had asked India to back an oil and gas pipeline that would go from Turkemenistan through Afghanistan and into Pakistan. That pipeline is one of a number of pipeline plans under consideration in the region.
9) The Indian prime minister promised to look into the plan, the statement said.
10) Karzai, accompanied by eight Cabinet minister, arrived in the Indian capital Wednesday on a three-day visit.
11) On Friday, he was to address The India Today Conclave, a forum looking at India's future.
2005-03-01
Leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan agree to speed up work on gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20050301.0459)
1) Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have agreed to accelerate work on a long-delayed pipeline intended to carry natural gas to India, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's office said.
2) Niyazov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed the project over the telephone on Monday following a visit by Karzai to India last week.
3) India is weighing whether to meet its expanding energy needs with pipelines from Turkmenistan or Iran, both of which would pass through archrival Pakistan, or alternately from Myanmar in the east.
4) The Turkmen-Afghan pipeline project's main sponsor is the Asian Development Bank.
5) The 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) pipeline, on which construction is to begin next year, is to run through Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan, the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Multan and on to the Indian border town of Fazilka.
6) The US$3.5 billion (euro2.7 billion) pipeline would tap into natural gas wells at Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field, which holds more than 2.83 trillion cubic meters (100 trillion cubic feet) in gas reserves.
7) Since the U.S.-led offensive that ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, the pipeline project has been revived and drawn strong U.S. support. It would allow formerly Soviet Central Asian nations to export rich energy resources without relying on Russian routes.
2005-03-10
2005-03-16
U.S. concerned about India's gas pipeline project with Iran, says Rice
(APW_ENG_20050316.0549)
1) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday expressed concern about India's gas-pipeline project with Iran and said New Delhi should consider alternative ways to meet its energy needs.
2) Tehran, Islamabad and New Delhi are negotiating to build a pipeline to carry gas from Iran through Pakistan to India. Washington opposes other nations doing business with Iran as it struggles to get it to dismantle its nuclear program.
3) Rice said the United States has made its concerns about the pipeline clear to New Delhi but was also aware of India's rapidly increasing energy needs.
4) "Our views concerning Iran are well known ... but we have to look at a broader question on how India meets its energy needs ... we believe that a broader energy dialogue should be launched with India," Rice said at a joint news conference with Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.
5) Last month, India's government decided to go ahead with its participation in the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline project.
6) "Given the technological sophistication of our economy and of India's economy, we can also explore ways that new technologies can help us over the next decades to meet what are undoubtedly going to be burgeoning energy needs," Rice said.
7) On Wednesday, Singh reiterated New Delhi's support for the project and said India expects "Iran to fulfill all its obligations with regard to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty."
8) Rice later met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who welcomed the proposal of an energy security dialogue with the United States, an Indian official said.
9) India is also seeking civilian nuclear power technology from the United States, which became possible with a recent agreement between the two countries on high technology exchanges.
10) "If there are any concerns of possible proliferation issues ... then this forum can sort that out. There is an understanding of the need to use nuclear energy for our development purposes," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
11) Worries over nuclear weapons proliferation prompted the United States to restrict for decades exports to India of so-called "dual use" technology _ items Washington believes could be diverted from civilian to military use. The United States also imposed sanctions following India's nuclear tests in May 1998.
12) The sanctions were lifted in the months after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and the restrictions have been eased in recent years as relations between Washington and New Delhi have improved.
13) India imports more than 70 percent of the crude oil it consumes and demand for oil is rising because of its rapidly growing economy. India will import 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas in 2005.
14) India's petroleum minister is scheduled to visit Teheran in June to secure a formal deal for the pipeline, which is expected to become operational by 2009.
Rice tries 'cricket diplomacy' in visit to Pakistan, India
(APW_ENG_20050316.1274)
1) A series of cross-border cricket matches may offer the best hope in years for improvement in the tense relationship between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. Visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice even took a crack Wednesday at what is being called cricket diplomacy.
2) Rice met with leaders of both India and Pakistan, U.S. allies with whom the administration has lately tried to play down disagreements. She chose not to announce widely expected sales of sophisticated American fighter planes to both countries during this trip so as not to highlight their arms race.
3) After ticking off numerous areas of cooperation and agreement with India, Rice made a promise to Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh.
4) "I'll even try to understand cricket," said Rice, a fan of American football. "That will help."
5) Responded Singh: "I will try to understand baseball."
6) Cricket is utterly foreign to most Americans, although it bears some resemblance to baseball.
7) Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will travel to India next month to watch the last match in a series that earns far more coverage in local papers than Rice's diplomatic visit. It will be Musharraf's first visit to India in four years, and both sides have said it is a hopeful sign.
8) India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their 1947 partition and independence from Britain.
9) If the end of British colonial rule set up five decades of enmity between India and Pakistan, it also left the two countries equally mad for cricket.
10) Hundreds of millions tune in when the two teams play. When India toured Pakistan last year, it was heralded as a victory for people-to-people contacts and a boon for peace.
11) Both countries relaxed tough visa regulations for the tours, allowing thousands of fans to travel across the border.
12) The two countries began peace talks a year ago that helped ease tensions but have made little headway on their key dispute over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
13) "We very much admire what the (Indian) prime minister and President Musharraf have been able to continue," Rice said in New Delhi. "We want to be supportive in any way that we can."
14) In Pakistan, Rice thanked Musharraf for "superb support in the war on terror," according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
15) Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999. He has since reneged on a promise to step down as head of the country's military, leaving the United States in the uncomfortable position of offering enthusiastic support for a leader with questionable democratic bona fides.
16) Rice "expressed our firm support for steady movement along a path to free and fair (presidential) elections in 2007," Boucher said.
17) Some U.S. officials have grumbled that Musharraf is not doing enough to track the illegal flow of nuclear information from Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Boucher said Rice and Musharraf "both emphasized the importance of our continuing cooperation to uproot the entire A.Q. Khan network."
18) After years of denials, Pakistan admitted last week that Khan, a national hero, sold crucial equipment to Iran. Pakistan said it knew nothing of Khan's activities when they occurred and insisted he will not be turned over to another country for prosecution.
19) The possible sale of F-16 fighter planes came up, Boucher said, but he gave no details.
20) In New Delhi, Rice said she discussed F-16 sales to both countries, but that no announcement is imminent.
21) India wants to buy the U.S. weaponry while denying it to Pakistan. The planes theoretically give each country the ability to fire nuclear missiles at each other.
22) Meanwhile, the United States wants India to drop a potential deal to build a US$4 billion (euro2.99 billion) natural gas pipeline from Iran to serve the expanding economy in India, the world's largest democracy.
23) "There are one or two items on which we don't agree, but our relations have now reached a maturity where we can discuss these things freely and frankly," Singh said.
24) The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran and wants to keep international pressure on the Tehran regime to give up nuclear ambitions and to institute democratic reforms.
25) Singh, however, indicated little willingness to back off pipeline discussions.
26) "We have no problems of any kind with Iran," he said.
27) The pipeline would travel through Pakistan, and both nations see the pipeline as an important opportunity for cooperation.
28) Rice's six-nation trip will also take her to Afghanistan, Japan, South Korea and China.
2005-03-21
Official: India has few options but to buy gas from Iran
(APW_ENG_20050321.0209)
1) A proposed Iran-to-India gas pipeline remains a sound option despite U.S. opposition because it would provide cheaper fuel for India's growing needs, a top Indian official said Monday.
2) "India's requirement of natural gas will continue to grow. In that backdrop it becomes essential to work on systems by which we can get gas at a relatively lesser cost," Indian Petroleum Secretary Sushil Chandra Tripathi said.
3) Tripathi is in Malaysia on the last leg of a global "road show" to urge foreign companies to explore 20 blocks of oil and natural gas fields in India under a new policy that lifts all restrictions on foreign investment in the petroleum sector.
4) India imports more than 70 percent of the crude oil it consumes and demand for fuel is rising because of its rapidly growing economy. It is expected to import 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in 2005.
5) Tripathi said gas purchased from Iran would be cheaper than LNG, which is transported by tankers in a liquid form and reconverted into gas at the point of consumption.
6) The Indian government has already rejected U.S. requests that it drop the US$4 billion (euro3 billion) natural gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India. The United States wants to use the pipeline issue to pressure Iran to end its nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at producing weapons.
7) Tripathi, the top civil servant in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, said India has a share in a gas block in Sakhalin, Russia, the world's largest producer of natural gas.
8) But a Russia-India pipeline is not economically viable because of the distance. Qatar, the world's third-largest producer of natural gas, is also an unlikely source because it on the other side of the Persian Gulf.
9) "I can't look beyond our neighborhood," Tripathi said. "So I am looking at Iran, I am looking at Myanmar, Bangladesh. These are the only three or four countries I can look at."
10) Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is to visit Iran in June to secure a formal deal on the delivery of gas through the 2,775-kilometer (1,724-mile) pipeline to the Indian state of Rajasthan. Iranian energy officials have said it could be operational by 2009.
11) India says it would not be responsible for the construction, maintenance or operation of the pipeline.
12) Pakistan also is eager for the project because it would also have access to the gas and earn an estimated US$600 million (euro455 million) a year in transit fees.
2005-03-23
India urges China to cooperate in oil, gas exploration in other countries
(APW_ENG_20050323.0275)
1) India urged China on Wednesday to collaborate on oil and gas projects around the world rather than act as rivals, as both countries need increasing amounts of energy to feed burgeoning economies.
2) "Every time we turn a corner in some foreign land, we bump into a Chinese rival," said India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.
3) China and India are looking beyond their borders for energy security, and both should work together, Aiyar said at a business leaders' conference.
4) He cited the example of Sudan in Africa as a potential model for collaboration on energy development. China built an oil refinery in Khartoum and India constructed a pipeline to carry the refined product to a nearby port for export.
5) India and China _ suspicious neighbors for decades after fighting a brief war in 1962 _ have in recent years taken steps to improve relations and boost economic ties.
6) In February, India's main gas distributor, state-owned GAIL India Ltd., said it would buy a 9 percent stake in China Gas Holdings. China Gas said GAIL has agreed to pay US$31 million (euro24 million) for 210 million shares.
7) The two companies previously agreed to explore opportunities in the natural gas sector in China and in other parts of the world.
8) India imports more than 70 percent of the crude oil it consumes, and demand is rising because of its rapidly growing economy. India will import 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas in 2005.
9) India's Cabinet has approved talks with Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on possible pipelines through those countries to India.
10) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's is scheduled visit to India in April.
Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to push long-delayed gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20050323.0613)
1) Afghan and Pakistani leaders on Wednesday agreed to do more to push forward a long-delayed natural gas pipeline that will run through gas-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and possibly India, an official said.
2) The 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) Afghan-Turkmen pipeline project has been on hold since the 1990s, when Afghanistan's hardline Taliban came into power.
3) Since U.S forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, the project has been revived and has drawn Washington's support. Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan have held meetings in recent months to discuss how to proceed with the plan.
4) On Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz agreed to concentrate on the US$3.5 billion (euro2.7 billion) pipeline because it would benefit the whole region, an official said on condition of anonymity.
5) He said Aziz told Karzai that Pakistan needed more gas and is interested in more than two pipelines. Pakistan this year has held several rounds of talks with Iran and Qatar on two separate pipelines.
6) The Afghan-Turkmen pipeline is to run through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.
7) The pipeline would tap into natural gas wells at Turkmenistan 's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field, which holds more than 2.83 trillion cubic meters (100 trillion cubic feet) in gas reserves.
8) Turkmenistan on Jan. 17 had said that a feasibility study for the pipeline was complete, and construction on the long-delayed project could begin in 2006.
9) Karzai's meeting with Aziz came a day after Karzai arrived in Islamabad for talks with his counterpart, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
10) Pakistan was once a key supporter of the Taliban regime, but Musharraf switched sides after the terror attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. On Wednesday, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed five agreements to enhance cooperation in culture, media, tourism, and transportation.
11) Karzai and Aziz witnessed the signing ceremony, officials said. Karzai later returned to Kabul, ending his fourth visit to Pakistan since he became Afghanistan's leader after the ouster of the Taliban regime.
2005-04-13
Pakistan will let U.S. opposition stand in way of plans to get gas from Iran, official says
(APW_ENG_20050413.0942)
1) Pakistan will not abandon a planned pipeline to get gas from Iran despite American opposition to the project, a government minister said Wednesday.
2) "We will make decision in the interest of Pakistan and not anybody (else)," Pakistan's Minister for Petroleum Amanullah Khan Jadoon told a news conference at the end of two days of talks with oil ministers from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
3) Jadoon did not specify what opposition the United States had to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.
4) Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a visit to Pakistan that the United States opposed the pipeline, but she didn't say whether Washington objected to Pakistan's participation.
5) The pipeline, which Iran proposed in 1996, would carry gas from Iran to India and Pakistan. But the deal has been held up due to India's concerns about the pipeline's security in Pakistan, with which it shares a history of hostile relations.
6) Meanwhile, Jadoon said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan expect to reach an agreement soon on another long-delayed pipeline connecting the three countries.
7) He said the three countries' oil ministers would meet again in July in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan and that work on the pipeline could begin by end of the year.
8) The project has been delayed since the hardline Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and insecurity in the country is believed to be holding up the project.
9) Mir Mohammed Sediq, Afghanistan's minister for mines, said at the news briefing that "we have assured full guarantee about the pipeline security."
10) The 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) pipeline would tap into natural gas wells at Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field, which holds more than 2.83 trillion cubic meters (100 trillion cubic feet) in gas reserves.
2005-05-15
Indian prime minister to visit Washington on July 18 for talks with President Bush
(APW_ENG_20050515.0078)
1) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Washington in July for talks with President George W. Bush on defense purchases and nuclear cooperation, a newspaper report said Sunday.
2) The Bush administration has offered New Delhi an upgraded version of the F-16 fighter jets and to explore the setting up of nuclear power plants to meet India's burgeoning energy needs, The Indian Express reported.
3) While Singh's government is amenable to the idea of improving India-U.S. cooperation, the prime minister will have to work hard to convince his coalition partners belonging to different communist parties about closer defense and energy ties with Washington, the newspaper said.
4) India's ambassador to the United States, Ronen Sen visited India last week to brief political leaders, including those from the communist and opposition parties about Washington's offer of upgraded F-16s to New Delhi.
5) Singh's visit to Washington follows a recent trip to India by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a meeting between the Indian premier and President Bush on the sidelines of the 60th anniversary of Victory Day commemorations in Moscow on May 9.
6) Singh will also meet business leaders in Chicago during his visit to the United States, scheduled to begin on July 18.
7) The Indian government has still not decided whether to accept the American offer of F-16 fighters for the Indian air force.
8) Singh and Bush will also discuss greater nuclear cooperation during their talks.
9) Last year India and the United States completed the first phase of an agreement to cooperate in trade in high-technology, space, civilian nuclear safety and missile defense. India is seeking to forge closer defense ties with the United States, and Indian and American air forces regularly carry out joint exercises in each other's airspace.
10) The closer ties are a stark contrast from the days of the Cold War when New Delhi was considered by Washington to be a Soviet ally.
11) Three years ago, Washington lifted economic sanctions imposed on New Delhi after it tested nuclear weapons in May 1998.
12) In recent months, the two sides have collaborated closely on several issues, including aid efforts after the Asian tsunami and on a coordinated diplomatic response to the seizure of power by Nepal's King Gyanendra in February.
2005-05-23
2005-05-25
Officials inaugurate pipeline to ship Caspian Sea oil to Mediterranean
(APW_ENG_20050525.0207)
1) Officials on Wednesday inaugurated the first section of a 1,760-kilometer (1,100-mile) U.S.-backed pipeline bringing Caspian Sea oil to Western markets.
2) The presidents from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Azeri capital, Baku, to open the taps for the first drops of oil to enter the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
3) The pipeline from the Azeri capital to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan is seen as a significant move toward reducing the West's dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Most Caspian oil exports previously have moved through Russian pipelines.
4) The US$3.2 billion (euro2.5billion) project, with a capacity of 1 million barrels a day, is the first direct oil link between the landlocked Caspian, which is thought to contain the world's third largest oil and gas reserves, and the Mediterranean. The pipeline, built by a consortium led by the BP oil company, passes through Georgia en route to Turkey.
5) All three countries look to earn substantial revenue from the pipeline, through transit fees and royalties.
6) "I do not doubt that BTC will be of use both toe Azerbaijan and our neighbors. This pipeline first of all will help solve economic and social problems, but the role of the pipeline in strengthening peace and security in the region also is not small," Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev said at the pipeline opening ceremony.
7) Azerbaijan is banking on the pipeline to raise its profile in the world and swing international support behind Baku in its dispute with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which ethnic Armenian separatists took control of more than a decade ago. The conflict continues to simmer, undermining the region's security.
8) Pipeline officials said it would take up to a month and a half to fill the Azerbaijani section of the pipeline. The Georgian part will be ready after that, and then the Turkish stretch, which Turkish authorities have said should be filled by Aug. 15.
9) It will take approximately 10 million barrels of crude to fill the entire pipeline.
2005-06-04
Indian energy minister arrives in Pakistan for talks on long-delayed gas pipeline projects
(APW_ENG_20050604.0360)
1) India's oil minister began a visit to Pakistan on Saturday to discuss importing natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan via this Islamic nation.
2) Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's petroleum and natural gas minister, was scheduled to meet with his Pakistani counterpart, Amanullah Khan Jadoon, and other officials during his four-day visit.
3) "We want to discuss all technical aspects with Pakistan for importing natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan," Aiyar said on arrival in the eastern city of Lahore.
4) Iran proposed the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) Iran-Pakistan pipeline in 1996 to export its gas to Pakistan and to India, but the project has never gotten off the ground because of Indian concerns about its safety in rival Pakistan.
5) However, such fears have eased since the nuclear-armed neighbors last year embarked on peace efforts aimed at ending a long-standing territorial conflict over the Kashmir region that has sparked two wars between them.
6) Aiyar also shrugged off comments made two months ago by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said she was concerned about India importing gas from Iran and said New Delhi should consider alternative ways to meet its energy needs.
7) "We will not come under the pressure of any country," said Aiyar.
8) Meanwhile, the 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) Turkmen-Afghan-Pakistan project was delayed when Afghanistan's hardline Taliban came into power in 1990s. It was revived in late 2001 when U.S forces ousted the Taliban.
9) Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan have held meetings in recent months to discuss how to proceed with the projects.
10) Pakistan has also asked Tehran to complete the project with or without India, although it has said it would welcome India's participation and that it would ensure the pipeline's security.
2005-06-05
2005-06-06
2005-06-07
2005-06-14
Report: India, Iran sign US$20-billion gas deal
(APW_ENG_20050614.0202)
1) India has signed a US$20-billion (euro16.5 billion) deal to buy liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from Iran over a period of 25 years starting 2009, a news report said Tuesday.
2) Iran will supply 5 million tons of gas annually as per the contract signed Monday during a visit to Tehran by India's petroleum minister, the Economic Times reported.
3) Under the contract, the National Iranian Oil Company will supply the gas from the South Pars _ the world's largest gas field _ through three of India's state-owned oil firms. The gas will mostly cater to demand from consumers in western and northern India.
4) The deal, which will help India meet its growing energy demand, is also tied to oil exploration interests of Indian firms, the report said. India has been assured a 10 percent stake in the Yadavaran oil field, Iran's largest onshore gas field where the Chinese hold a key stake, it said.
5) Another news report said Iran also offered an exploration block in the North Pars gas field to a consortium of Indian companies. "The North pars field can produce 3.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day. One of the blocks in the field will be given to Indian oil firms," the Press Trust of India quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangneh as saying.
6) As of now, the two countries plan to ship the gas by sea.
7) Separately, they would continue to negotiate building a 2,775-kilometer (1725-mile) pipeline via Pakistan to bring the transport more gas from Iran to India. Progress on the pipeline had been held up in the past because of strained relations between India and Pakistan.
8) Although relations between India and Pakistan have improved in recent months and both countries now want to cooperate in energy, the US$3.5 billion pipeline project faces new hurdles. The United States has expressed reservations about Indian and Pakistani plans on sewing up energy deals with Iran.
2005-06-22
Iran-India gas pipeline to go ahead despite U.S. concerns, energy expert says
(APW_ENG_20050622.0944)
1) Plans to build a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan will go ahead despite U.S. reservations about the project, an Indian energy expert said Wednesday.
2) The US$3.5 billion (euro2.9 billion) project would benefit the United States _ which opposes nations' doing business with Iran as it struggles to get it to dismantle its nuclear program _ by reducing India's dependency on oil and lowering global fuel prices, said R.K. Pachauri, head of the privately run Energy and Resources Institute.
3) "It's really to everyone's benefit," Pachauri told reporters in Geneva. "I hope none of the governments chicken out."
4) The 2,775-kilometer (1,725-mile) pipeline would also help stability in the region by improving cooperation between India and its neighbor, Pakistan, he said.
5) "For the first time you would have a major deal of this nature between India and Pakistan ... which can really bring about a sea change in the atmosphere in that region," Pachauri said. "Two neighboring countries should be trading openly and liberally."
6) Tensions between South Asia's nuclear-armed rivals have eased in the past year-and-a-half and they have agreed to improve relations and work toward building the pipeline, despite reported opposition from Washington _ an ally of both countries. Both India and Pakistan want to import gas to meet their growing energy needs.
7) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern about the plan during a trip to New Delhi in March, but American officials earlier this month denied they were pressuring the Pakistani government.
8) Rice had said New Delhi should consider alternative ways to meet its energy needs.
9) Pachauri said it might be easier to have Iran build the part of the pipeline within its borders, so that Indian firms can avoid the threat of U.S. sanctions against investing in Iran.
10) Then the pipeline project might be less offensive from an American point of view, since India already has trade deals with Tehran to buy liquefied natural gas, he said.
11) "If we are buying LNG from Iran, where is the difference in buying gas by pipeline," Pachauri said.
12) Last week, news reports indicated India had signed a US$20 billion (euro16.5 billion) deal with Iran to buy LNG from Iran over a period of 25 years starting in 2009, but it was foreseen that the shipments would be at least initially by ship. If a pipeline is built, it would be operational no sooner than 2010, Pachauri said.
13) The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran, which it accuses of trying to develop nuclear weapons and of being a state sponsor of terrorism.
2005-07-10
Senior Pakistani officials to travel to India for talks on transnational gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20050710.0243)
1) Senior Pakistani officials will travel on Monday to India for talks on a proposed trans-regional gas pipeline to take Iranian gas to India through Pakistan, an official said.
2) The seven-member delegation including officials from the oil and foreign ministries will leave for India for a two-day meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said Sunday.
3) Jilani gave no other details about the talks in New Delhi, India's capital.
4) Iran proposed the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline in 1996 but the project never got off the ground, largely because of India's concerns that the pipeline would be security in Pakistan, its main regional rival.
5) However, Pakistan and India have seen improved relations in recent months, and since then, the three countries have been discussing the proposed project enthusiastically, officials said.
6) Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was in Pakistan this week and he held talks on the proposed project with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other senior government officials.
7) Zanganeh expressed the hope that the project could be started next year.
8) Last month, India's petroleum and natural gas minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, also said during a visit to Pakistan that he hoped the US$4 billion (euro3.35 billion) project would be launched in early 2006.
9) The three nations have vowed to disregard outside opposition to the project, a reference to U.S. concerns about the proposed pipeline. During a March visit to India, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern about India importing gas from Iran, saying New Delhi should look for alternative energy sources.
10) Washington has no diplomatic relations with Iran and wants to keep international pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.
2005-07-11
2005-07-13
India, Pakistan end talks on gas pipeline from Iran, aim to start project work by 2006
(APW_ENG_20050713.0540)
1) Indian and Pakistani officials on Wednesday tentatively agreed to start building a US$4 billion (euro3.35 billion) pipeline late next year that would bring Iranian natural gas to India through Pakistan.
2) "The speed and the spirit with which we are going ahead, I understand work on the project can start in 2006," Pakistan's petroleum secretary Ahmed Waqar said after two days of talks.
3) The talks, which were held despite U.S. objections to the deal, focused on financing the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline, pricing and sharing the gas, and security, Waqar said. He said both sides would meet again in late August, when they hope to adopt a "framework agreement" on the project.
4) "This is the first time we have held detailed discussions on the technical, financial and legal aspects of the project," said Sushil Chandra Tripathy, India's petroleum secretary.
5) Both sides have agreed to appoint international consultants to work out the details of project finances, Tripathy said. "I hope we can reach a financial closure by the end of 2006, or early 2007. After that it would take three, or three and half, years to get the pipeline ready."
6) Iran had proposed the project in 1996, but it stalled _ mainly due to India's reluctance to join because a large section of the pipeline would pass through India's archrival, Pakistan.
7) However, their relations have thawed since January 2004, reviving talks on the pipeline that would help India bridge its widening energy deficit and yield millions of dollars to Pakistan in transit fees.
8) The project faces new hurdles though, with the United States voicing reservations and asking India and Pakistan to explore alternative energy sources. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Iran, and wants to keep international pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.
9) But India and Pakistan have indicated plans to go ahead with the project.
10) "We would take a decision based on what our public interest demands," Pakistan's Waqar said when asked to comment on the objections raised by the United States.
11) He said the pipeline must be built before 2010, when Pakistan is projected to face natural gas shortage. On Wednesday, both sides discussed the amount of gas each would draw from the proposed pipeline.
12) Pakistan will start with 10 million cubic meters of gas per day and scale it up to 60 million cubic meters in five years. India will initially lift 60 million cubic meters of gas per day and scale up its daily import to 90 million cubic meters in three years, Tripathy said.
2005-07-17
Indian prime minister, transforming his nation at home, looks for strategic partnership on U.S. visit
(APW_ENG_20050717.0013)
1) The Indian prime minister visiting the White House on Monday is a mild-mannered technocrat who has burst out of political obscurity to carry forward an economic and diplomatic revolution in the world's biggest democracy.
2) Now Manmohan Singh is looking to complete the post-Cold War, post-9/11 repositioning of his country by entering into a strategic partnership with the United States.
3) "This is a watershed year in U.S.-India relations," Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca is quoted as saying in a U.S. Embassy report, published ahead of Singh's visit.
4) Singh's aides paint a sweeping canvas of issues for him and Bush to discuss: the economics that are binding the United States and India ever closer together; cooperation in generating nuclear power for the voracious needs of a nation of over 1 billion; collaboration in space research including joint launch of satellites and an Indian mission to moon; India's bid for permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council; waging the war on terrorism.
5) Then there are weapons deals, intelligence-sharing, cyber-security, collaboration in biotechnology and nanotechnology, "and what the two countries can offer as democracies to the rest of the world," said Sanjaya Baru, Singh's media adviser.
6) "We have been talking, and working, about a strategic partnership. Now is the time to make it happen," he told The Associated Press.
7) Singh will spend 90 minutes with Bush, then meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and be Bush's guest at a banquet and jazz concert.
8) On Tuesday, he will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, giving American lawmakers an opportunity to learn more about a leader who is little known in Western public at large since becoming prime minister 14 months ago.
9) Singh's predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was best known for ordering India's 1998 A-bomb tests, which prompted rival Pakistan to do likewise, but also for initiating peace talks with Pakistan. Vajpayee represented Hindu nationalism in a republic founded on secular principles, and serious Hindu-Muslim bloodshed happened on his watch.
10) At the same time, he began the transformation of India-U.S. relations, frosty during the Cold War days when New Delhi was seen as a Soviet ally. And since 9/11, India and its overwhelmingly Hindu majority have come to be seen as a safe port of call for the West in a region beset by Muslim militancy.
11) Singh, the first Sikh to become India's prime minister, was a surprise candidate, but already familiar to business leaders who admire him for setting off India's transformation into a market economy in the early 1990s when he was finance minister.
12) It was the economics professor's first political job and lasted five years until his Congress party lost power in 1996. He then kept a low profile until last year, when a tumultuous election toppled Vajpayee and returned Congress to office.
13) To many, Singh is a gentleman politician who looks out of place in the sharp-edged world of Indian politics. He is a dour leader by Indian standards, but has impeccable credentials as an efficient and clean administrator. He has few enemies in politics, and his first year in office has seen few scandals or religious riots.
14) Where many of Vajpayee's initiatives were thwarted by dissenters in his coalition, Singh has pushed ahead with his predecessor's overtures to Pakistan and he hasn't shrunk from tough economic decisions despite pressure from the communist parties that offer him crucial support in Parliament.
15) Singh's ascent has come at a time when India's world view _ and the way the world views India _ is undergoing a seismic shift.
16) India now sees itself as an emerging world power. Washington sees New Delhi as a potential ally to counter China and its growing political and military influence in the Indian Ocean rim. Its booming software sector is now the back-office hub of U.S. multinationals. International agencies forecast the Indian economy _ one of the world' fastest growing in the past decade _ will get into the top five by mid-century at the latest.
17) A report issued this week by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and written by Ashley J. Tellis, a leading American expert on Asia, is titled "India as a New Global Power."
18) It urges Washington to support India's bid for a permanent seat in an expanded Security Council, recognize it as a nuclear-weapon state instead of nagging New Delhi to sign the nonproliferation treaty, and enter into a "comprehensive defense partnership."
19) Washington should help India to build nuclear power plants to bridge its widening energy deficit and stop complaining about its attempts to build a pipeline to bring gas from Iran, it says.
2005-07-18
Despite new U.S.-India friendship, visiting Indian premier's U.N. wish will be put off
(APW_ENG_20050718.0010)
1) The administration of President George W. Bush is looking to improve ties with India, leaving behind the acrimony that marked U.S. relations with the world's largest democracy during the Cold War.
2) Already, however, U.S. officials are signaling that India's prime minister, coming to Washington this week, will get a firm "no" for now to one of his country's top priorities, a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
3) Considering a litany of alleged mismanagement, corruption and other failings at the United Nations, the Americans think an overhaul of U.N. operations must begin before a reshaping of the Security Council can be considered.
4) That is likely to be among few negatives to interfere with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official visit that starts Monday with a full-blown arrival ceremony on the White House lawn, an Oval Office meeting with Bush and a gala dinner.
5) Administration officials say the pomp is designed to emphasize the growing importance the United States assigns to India, a rising economic and military power. Bush considers the country's newfound affinity for the United States a major success of his foreign policy.
6) India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a founder of the Cold War's Nonaligned Movement, which Nehru considered a "third way" beyond what he considered the imperialism of both Western capitalism and Soviet-style communism. In practice it gravitated toward the latter, which often put India severely at odds with U.S. policies.
7) The detente began 18 months ago with signing of the Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership, a blueprint for bringing the two democracies into a fully cooperative relationship in economic and military affairs, energy, the environment, space and technology and other matters. A military cooperation agreement was signed this year, and as many as 16 new cooperative arrangements are planned for the Singh visit.
8) For now, however, the U.N. question will be a difficult sell for the Indians.
9) "We believe very strongly that the larger issues of U.N. reform also have to be addressed, and if we have U.N. Security Council reform out of phase with the larger U.N. reforms, then we will not do justice to the organization," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told an Indian interviewer during the weekend.
10) After she spoke, a senior administration official said if the vote on expansion were held today, the United States would vote against its own position, stated last month, which endorsed an addition of "two or so" permanent members, one of them Japan, without veto power.
11) A just-released report, "India as a New Global Power," cites such disagreements as possible hindrances to the budding U.S.-Indian relationship. The author, Indian-born American Ashley J. Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says both sides will need to be uncharacteristically yielding toward the other.
12) The United States will have to allow exceptions to the rules _ for instance, on India's nuclear weapons. India will need to mesh its own political strategies with the United States' to reach common goals, "something that has been more the exception than the norm in previous decades."
13) "Strategic autonomy" is and has been a guiding policy for New Delhi since India's birth in 1947, Tellis wrote, and this includes choosing for itself "the friends it keeps and the policies it follows."
14) That will make it much more difficult for the administration to request and Congress to enact changes in laws to make the kinds of exceptions that India wants, he said.
15) Some of those challenges are visible on the horizon.
16) India and Pakistan have agreed tentatively to build a $4 billion (euro3.3 billion), 1,735-mile (2,775-kilometer) pipeline to transport Iranian natural gas. India's need for energy sources is among subjects being discussed in Washington during Singh's visit.
17) Rice was asked about the plans in a New Delhi visit in March. "We have communicated to the Indian government our concerns about gas pipeline cooperation between Iran and India," Rice said. "These concerns are well known to the Indian government."
18) Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh followed her. "We have no problems of any kind with Iran," he said. "And as Dr. Rice said, the requirement for energy and a new technology _ India, Pakistan, Iran are indeed in touch with each other."
2005-07-23
2005-09-01
Supporters see 'peace pipeline,' but troubles plague planned Iran-Pakistan-India gas line
(APW_ENG_20050901.0055)
1) The pipeline, if it's ever built, would carry natural gas from Iran for nearly 2,800 kilometers (1,750 miles), cutting through Pakistan and into India, where it would feed one of the world's fastest-growing economies. The network could provide Pakistan with hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, and tie together two of the world's most bitter rivals.
2) It would be, the region's media like to say, a "peace pipeline."
3) But the US$4 billion (euro3.3 billion) pipeline plan, first floated a decade ago and energized by recent steps forward in the India-Pakistan peace process, remains mired in politics, financial questions and _ most importantly _ diplomacy.
4) "India's needs of energy are increasing at an explosive rate," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters last week during a visit to Afghanistan. He insisted that India was moving ahead with both the Iranian pipeline plan and another proposed project for a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
5) "It is not a question of preferring one or the other," Singh said. "We need both the pipelines."
6) But it's not that simple. Indian politicians have voiced concerns about the security of the Iran pipeline as it passes through Pakistan, particularly the restive region of Baluchistan. Top Indian officials, including Singh, have warned that the plan is still in "preliminary stages" of financing and feasibility.
7) And looming over the project is a nervous White House, which is trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear program and doesn't want such massive investments in a country it is anxious to isolate. Washington has made it clear to India and Pakistan that it doesn't want the plan to go forward.
8) "Our views concerning Iran are very well known by this time, and we have communicated to the Indian government our concerns about gas pipeline cooperation between Iran and India," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told India's NDTV during a visit to New Delhi earlier this year.
9) In July, the terminology grew a little harsher, with U.S. Undersecretary of State Anthony Wayne telling the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that India and China, in their search for new energy sources, are both willing "to invest in countries that are pursuing policies that are harmful to global stability," and saying some deals "raise concerns under U.S. law and policy."
10) But India, whose economy has been growing at 6 percent annually for the past decade, must import more than 65 percent of its oil.
11) Now, it's trapped between its voracious demands for energy and its increasingly close relationship with Washington.
12) During a July visit to Washington, Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush announced a plan for the United States to share civilian nuclear technology with India, a country which has long been cut off from most nuclear trade because of its history of nuclear tests and its refusal to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal still requires congressional approval.
13) The result has been a flurry of contradictions from New Delhi, as it seeks to stay in Washington's good graces while moving forward, albeit slowly, with preliminary pipeline talks.
14) So on one day in July, Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said the project was "fraught with terrible risks" and that financing would be extremely difficult. A few weeks later, Singh was in Afghanistan talking about the pipeline as if it was a done deal.
15) The contradictions aren't surprising.
16) Indian officials may publicly insist that U.S. views on the pipeline are not important, but after decades of mutual suspicion, they are enjoying the benefits of increasingly close ties to the United States.
17) "The Indians have to figure out how far they can push the Iranians on the pipeline without counteracting their growing strategic relationship with Washington," said Rajan Menon, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "The Indians have to ask themselves: how far do we want to go out on a limb?"
18) To its supporters, though, the pipeline is worth the diplomatic gamble. They see it as a physical and symbolic connection between India and Pakistan, and a joint investment that can't help but bring them closer.
19) Pakistan, which could earn transit fees that some estimates put as high as a half billion dollars a year, has been a resolute defender of the plan, with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz saying it would "create linkages and interdependencies for establishing an enduring relationship between the two countries."
20) Getting it built, though, may be a different matter.
21) "The fact about pipelines is that they make a lot of sense on graphs and charts, but there are political realities about pipelines _ and they can't work until the political realities are in order," Menon said.
2005-09-05
India's petroleum minister visits Bangladesh; pipeline talks 'constructive'
(APW_ENG_20050905.0629)
1) Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar arrived in Bangladesh on a brief visit Monday to discuss a regional natural gas pipeline and other issues, officials said.
2) After talks with Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan, Aiyar said negotiations were "moving forward" on a transborder pipeline involving Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.
3) "We had a constructive dialogue," Aiyar told reporters, but added discussions would continue on resolving outstanding issues over the pipeline.
4) India wants to import natural gas from Myanmar through a pipeline across Bangladesh. In exchange, Dhaka wants transportation rights through India to landlocked Nepal and Bhutan to trade commodities and import power.
5) India, Bangladesh and Myanmar reached an agreement on the project earlier this year. Work has yet to begin on the 290-kilometer (180-mile) pipeline, which is estimated to cost US$2 billion (euro1.54 billion). Analysts have said it will take five years to complete.
6) Bangladesh has in the past rejected offers to export natural gas to India from its own fields, saying it needs the gas for domestic consumption.
7) Aiyar was also scheduled to meet Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman and Energy Adviser Mahmudur Rahman before departing Tuesday.
2005-09-08
Pakistan, India hold talks on proposed gas pipeline from Iran
(APW_ENG_20050908.0597)
1) Senior government officials from Pakistan and India met Thursday in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad to review progress on the two countries' plans for a pipeline that would supply gas from Iran, a government statement said.
2) The South Asian rivals have tentatively agreed to start building the US$4 billion (euro3.35 billion) pipeline late next year amid a thaw in relations.
3) After the first of two days of meetings, Sushil Chandra Tripathy, India's petroleum secretary, expressed the hope that the pipeline project "would prove to be a milestone for prevailing mutual understanding on regional issues," according to a Pakistani Ministry of Petroleum statement.
4) The two sides "discussed in detail technical, commercial, financial and legal aspects," and stressed they would "work closely for commencing the project as quickly as possible," the statement said.
5) Iran proposed the pipeline in 1996 but the project failed to get off the ground, mainly because of Indian concerns over the pipeline's security in Pakistan.
6) India and Pakistan have a history of hostile relations centered on their dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. They have fought two wars over the divided region since their independence from British rule in 1947.
7) In early 2004, they began wide-ranging peace talks on Kashmir and other issues.
8) The 2,800-kilometer (1,750 mile) gas pipeline from Iran, if built, would feed the energy needs of India, which has one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
9) Pakistan would have access to gas from the pipeline and would earn a transit fee for gas passing through its territory.
10) Pakistan and India have vowed to go ahead with building the pipeline despite U.S. opposition to the project resulting from concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
2005-09-09
2005-09-12
India and France to negotiate a pact to cooperate on nuclear power
(APW_ENG_20050912.0750)
1) India and France will negotiate a pact to cooperate on nuclear power, officials said Monday after talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Jacques Chirac.
2) During the meeting, which focused on strengthening the countries' strategic partnership, Singh also confirmed plans to buy six French submarines and 43 Airbus planes.
3) Chirac called India "a major partner" and said the submarine and plane orders, which had previously been announced by Indian officials, were a sign "of trust, friendship and cooperation."
4) The meeting was the first official engagement for 72-year-old Chirac since his release from hospital Friday following a weeklong stay for what doctors said was a blood vessel problem that affected his eyesight. Chirac greeted Singh on the front steps of the French presidential Elysee Palace.
5) In a joint declaration, the two announced their intention to "work toward the conclusion of an agreement on bilateral cooperation in the nuclear field." The document offered no details.
6) India wants to reduce its reliance on oil by developing nuclear energy. It hopes to import French nuclear reactors, Singh said in an interview published Monday in Le Figaro newspaper.
7) "There is a clear commitment by France to fully cooperate with India in this field in all aspects of nuclear energy cooperation," Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters later.
8) During a July visit to Washington, Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush announced a plan for the United States to share civilian nuclear technology with India, which has been long cut off from most nuclear trade because of its history of nuclear tests and its refusal to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal still requires congressional approval.
9) "I think that whether it was with the U.S. or with the French, the general sense is that the sooner we move in this direction, the better it is," Saran said.
10) Chirac's talks with Singh focused on economic exchanges.
11) Singh said India has a "privileged" relationship with France that he wants to strengthen "in every possible way."
12) He also said he wants to "convince the French business community that India is going to be a competitive destination for foreign investment."
13) Singh first announced the Airbus deal last week at an India-EU summit. He said Indian Airlines agreed to buy the 19 A319s, four A320s and 20 A321s for US$2.2 billion (euro1.77 billion).
14) The US$2.1 billion (euro1.69 billion) deal for the six 1,500-ton Scorpene submarines was cleared by India's Cabinet last Thursday.
15) The submarines will be armed with French-made Exocet anti-ship missiles. The deal provides for the transfer of technology to India so the submarines can be manufactured under license in Bombay, Indian authorities said.
16) French defense electronics firm Thales said it will earn euro600 million (US$744.9 million) from the Scorpene contract, supplying equipment for the submarines' combat systems, underwater sensors, communications and optics, and electronic warfare equipment.
17) Singh was in Paris en route to New York for a U.N. summit of world leaders, where he plans to push for a permanent seat on the Security Council and discuss civilian nuclear energy cooperation.
18) In the joint statement, Singh thanked France for "its constant and firm support" for India's candidacy for the U.N. seat, and Chirac reaffirmed his stance that India has a "legitimate claim" to it.
19) Chirac has accepted an invitation to visit India in February 2006, it said.
2005-09-24
Indian prime minister advises Iran to be flexible, make concessions on nuclear program
(APW_ENG_20050924.0176)
1) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a telephone call that his country should show flexibility over its nuclear program and offer concessions, officials said.
2) India is seeking closer ties with Iran and has firmed up plans for a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan to feed the growing needs of its booming economy. However, the United States _ with which India is forging a sweeping alliance shedding years of Cold War-era suspicions _ has publicly disapproved of the deal.
3) Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly urged Russia, China, India and other countries to join in a "unified message" to Iran to halt its nuclear program. All three countries do not seem inclined to publicly take on Iran over the issue.
4) In a statement late Friday, the Indian foreign ministry said Ahmadinejad called Singh and raised the issue of Iran's standoff over its nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA, the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency, was to reconvene Saturday.
5) Singh "advised him that Iran should consider taking a flexible position so as to avoid a confrontation ... (and) repeated the necessity for Iran to make concessions to this end," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement. "India supports the resolution of all issues through discussion and consensus in the IAEA."
6) Iran has refused to re-impose a freeze on uranium conversion, which could have been a way of reducing tension and avoiding referral to the Security Council.
7) Uranium conversion is a precursor to enrichment. Iran says it is interested in enrichment only to generate power, but the United States and European countries fear Tehran wants to use the conversion process to create weapons-grade uranium.
8) On the sidelines of the United Nations summit this month, Singh said he assured U.S. President George W. Bush and Rice that India wants Iran to follow its international treaty obligation not to pursue nuclear weapons.
2005-09-25
India says vote against Iran at nuclear agency not under U.S. pressure
(APW_ENG_20050925.0274)
1) India on Sunday defended its vote at the U.N. atomic watchdog agency to put Iran on notice for its nuclear program, insisting that U.S. pressure played no part in the decision and vowing to move forward on a major pipeline deal with Tehran.
2) In a surprise move on Saturday, India joined the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and other nations in backing a resolution calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency to consider reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council for not complying with the international nuclear arms control treaty.
3) With 20 million Shia Muslims _ the second largest number in the world after Iran _ India has traditionally close ties with Iran. Delhi is seeking an ambitious business partnership with Tehran and has firmed up plans for a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan to feed the growing energy needs of its booming economy.
4) However, disapproval of the project by the United States _ with whom India is forging a strong post-Cold War alliance _ has threatened to sour relations.
5) The pipeline deal has also cast a shadow over a landmark India-U.S. pact in which the United States has agreed to share civilian nuclear technology with New Delhi, even though India is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The agreement must be approved by the U.S. Congress, where many members have frowned on India's emerging relationship with Iran.
6) India's foreign ministry on Sunday tried to play down the perception that pressure from Washington had influenced its decision to vote against Iran.
7) "Nothing could be further from the truth," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "India takes decisions on issue based on its own independent assessment and in consonance with the country's national interests."
8) But the government's communist partners, which support the government with crucial legislative support, slammed the move and said India had let down a friendly country.
9) "The government has caved in under the threat from the United States that it has to choose where it stands _ with the U.S. or Iran _ and the blunt message that the nuclear cooperation agreement will not be ratified by the U.S. Congress if India takes an independent stand," the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the largest group, said in a statement.
10) Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly urged Russia, China, India and other countries to join in a "unified message" to Iran to halt its nuclear program.
11) Russia and China abstained from the vote.
12) The foreign ministry expressed confidence the vote would not affect the pipeline project.
13) "We see no reason why there should be any apprehension in this regard. India has played a constructive role in the IAEA and helped safeguard Iran's legitimate interests," the statement said.
14) Despite voting to support the resolution, India expressed reservations at its wording, saying it did not find Iran noncompliant and it did not see the situation as a threat to peace.
15) "There is no question of India having ranged itself on one side or the other," the statement said. "On the contrary, India has played a helpful and supportive role in safeguarding Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear energy necessary for its economic development, but consistent with global non-proliferation norms."
16) The statement said the vote would meet New Delhi's main objectives _ give time for negotiations between the two sides, and prevent the issue from being immediately referred to the U.N. Security Council.
17) The vote came hours after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a telephone call that his country should show flexibility over its nuclear program and offer concessions.
2005-09-30
(APW_ENG_20050930.0018)
1) Intense U.S. pressure didn't prompt India to support a resolution that has placed Iran on the verge of referral to the U.N. Security Council, India's ambassador to the United States said. In fact, he said, it almost had the opposite effect.
2) India ended up voting Saturday in favor of the U.S.-supported resolution by the U.N. atomic watchdog agency that ordered Iran to suspend its nuclear programs.
3) But in an interview with The Associated Press, Ambassador Ronen Sen said India's concern that it might appear to be buckling under U.S. pressure was "a huge stumbling block in making the decision, which would have happened anyway."
4) Top U.S. officials had repeatedly urged India to support referring Iran to the Security Council, the United Nations' top decision-making body. Referral to the council would carry an implicit threat of sanctions.
5) Denouncing what he considered reluctance on India's part in the weeks leading up to the vote, Rep. Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said India could not expect Congress to support a deal extending U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation if India "totally disregards our interests" on the Iran resolution.
6) After India voted, Lantos said India "decided it was more important to maintain its relationship with us than to accommodate the ayatollahs in Tehran."
7) Sen, however, said U.S. pressure actually made it harder for India to go through with a vote it always had intended to cast.
8) "The decision that we took was not because of what was said, at congressional hearings or elsewhere _ it was in spite of that," Sen said. "No government can be seen to be acting under pressure. I think we did the right thing, but it becomes much more difficult if it is seen to be carried out under duress."
9) The resolution ordered Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities, a possible pathway to nuclear weapons, to abandon construction of a heavy water nuclear reactor and to grant access to certain military locations, individuals and documents.
10) Sen said India's vote was consistent with its past statements in favor of keeping nuclear weapons out of Iran. After officials agreed to delay referring Iran to the Security Council, one of India's chief demands, India embraced the U.N. resolution, he said.
11) Still, he was adamant when asked if U.S. pressure made India consider withholding its support, answering "absolutely."
12) "You don't take even your closest friends for granted," he said, adding: "We don't have a Pavlovian response: If some country does this, then we do that."
13) Sen also vigorously defended India's nuclear record and its strong need for energy. To become the great economic power that many expect it eventually to be, Sen said India must have enough energy to create employment for its huge population and to support a coming "demographic bulge."
14) "Energy is the key, the biggest restraint on our development," he said. "For sustaining development, we have to have some alternatives which are immediately available, and which are proven and which we are good at."
15) That means, in part, nuclear energy, he said, pointing out that India has had a plan for a nuclear program since 1944.
16) Another salve to India's energy shortage is natural gas, of which Iran is a major producer. India is pursuing a deal that would send Iranian gas, by way of a pipeline through Pakistan, to India.
17) "As far as we are concerned, the pipeline is a completely different issue," Sen said, when asked if India's U.N. vote on Iran jeopardized a possible deal. "Differences on certain issues should not hold the entire relationship hostage."
18) Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi has said Iran was considering reducing its trade with countries that voted for Saturday's resolution, particularly India. "We were very surprised by India," he said.
Bush, Manmohan Singh review progress on nuclear pact
(APW_ENG_20050930.0816)
1) U.S. President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed Friday the implementation of a landmark nuclear pact they signed in July, a spokesman said.
2) On July 18, the United States agreed to share civilian nuclear technology and supply nuclear fuel in return for India's willingness to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs. However, the agreement has still to be ratified by the U.S. Congress.
3) "President Bush called the prime minister this evening," Singh's media adviser Sanjaya Baru told The Associated Press. "The two leaders reviewed the implementation of the July 18 joint statement and other bilateral issues, and touched on developments in the region."
4) The discussion followed India's surprise vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency last week.
5) New Delhi and Tehran have plans for a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) gas pipeline via Pakistan to feed the growing energy needs of India's booming economy.
6) But on Sept. 24, India joined the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and other nations in backing a resolution calling on the body to consider reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council for not complying with the international nuclear arms control treaty. The move angered Iran, but it stopped short of reviewing the pipeline deal.
7) Indian officials said the anti-Iran position was not made under pressure from the United States. However, the vote is expected to help weather some of the criticism leveled against the South Asian nation by U.S. Congress members who opposed the nuclear deal with India.
8) Singh has said that nuclear fuel from the United States will help ease India's severe energy sector crunch.
9) With international oil prices rising, India has been looking to other sources to fuel its booming economy, one of the fastest growing in the world at more than 7 percent each year. The uranium available in the country, and coal deposits, are able to provide only a fraction of the needed energy.
2005-10-18
2005-12-17
India, Pakistan to start building pipeline by 2007 to bring gas from Iran: report
(APW_ENG_20051217.0407)
1) India and Pakistan on Saturday agreed to begin work on a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) pipeline by mid-2007 to bring natural gas from Iran by the end of 2010, a news report said.
2) Officials from Indian and Pakistani Petroleum Ministries met in New Delhi and agreed to complete a framework agreement, which will also involve Iran, by April next year, Press Trust of India news agency quoted India's Petroleum Secretary S. C. Tripathi as saying.
3) The proposed US$4 billion (euro3.35 billion) project will transport gas from Iran to India through Pakistan.
4) Ahmad Waqar, who led the Pakistani side at the talks, said a technical group would be set up to sort out details such as the exact route of the pipeline, transit fees payable to Pakistan and a pricing mechanism, according to PTI.
5) India, Iran and Pakistan will hold a trilateral meeting on the issue in early February in Teheran, the agency said.
6) The officials were not immediately available for comment.
7) The project would provide Pakistan with hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) in fees and meet India's burgeoning energy needs.
8) India, whose economy has been growing at 6 percent annually for the past decade, imports more than 65 percent of its oil.
9) The United States, which is trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, opposes investments which benefit Iran and has made it clear to India and Pakistan that it is unhappy with the cooperation.
10) Iran proposed the pipeline in 1996, but the project never got off the ground mainly because of Indian concerns over its security in Pakistan.
11) India and Pakistan have a history of hostile relations centered on their dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir which is divided between the two but claimed in its entirety by both. They have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from Britain in 1947.
12) The pipeline project is just one of a number of initiatives to improve relations between the longtime rivals.
2005-12-29
Official: Iran committed to gas pipeline project with India
(APW_ENG_20051229.0344)
1) Iran's deputy oil minister said Thursday his country is committed to helping build a pipeline that would cut through Pakistan and deliver gas to energy hungry India, adding that he expected deliveries to begin by 2011 or 2012.
2) The three countries are slated in March to sign an agreement on the pipeline project and a framework that would establish a formula for the price of gas shipped through it, Dow Jones Newswires quoted Iran's deputy oil minister, M.H. Nejad Hosseinian, as saying. The signing would take place in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
3) "We have a strong will to implement the project," Hosseinian told reporters at the end of a two-day meeting of the India-Iran Joint Working Group of officials. "The delivery of gas, I think, should start in 2011-2012."
4) The 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) pipeline would help meet the growing energy needs of India's booming economy and provide Pakistan with hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. The project is expected to cost nearly US$8 billion (euro6.6 billion).
5) The United States, which is trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, has made its disapproval of the project clear to Pakistan and India. Washington opposes investments that benefit Iran, which it suspects of trying to build atomic weapons.
6) If the project comes through, India is expected to buy up to 60 million cubic meters of gas a day from Iran, while Pakistan could buy up to 30 million cubic meters a day, Dow Jones Newswires said.
7) The pipeline is one of a number of initiatives designed to improve relations between Indian and Pakistan, longtime rivals who embarked on a peace process nearly two years ago.
8) Iran proposed the pipeline in 1996, but the project never got off the ground mainly because of Indian concerns over its security in Pakistan.
2006-01-19
2006-01-20
U.S. diplomat sees
(APW_ENG_20060120.0683)
1) The United States and India face difficult negotiations on a landmark civilian nuclear pact, but officials said they remain hopeful of reaching an agreement on the deal that leaders of both countries have hailed as a centerpiece of their emerging alliance.
2) But it was apparent at the end of talks in New Delhi that India and the United States remain divided on the other major issue discussed: how best to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
3) While there is a clear desire, especially on the part of India, to keep the issues separate, American and Indian officials fear some members of the U.S. Congress could balk at approving the nuclear pact if New Delhi does not back the U.S. on Iran.
4) The nuclear pact, signed in July, has been touted as a symbol of the new ties between India and the United States after nearly a half-century of Cold War estrangement.
5) It was the focus of talks between U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and his Indian counterpart, Shyam Saran.
6) "The situation is unique, India's position is unique and there is complexity and difficulty to these talks which is inherent in the subject," Burns said told reporters after the talks.
7) He added: "We will continue these talks hopefully toward an agreement in the not-too-distant future."
8) U.S. and Indian officials want to hammer out a deal before U.S. President George W. Bush visits India, probably in early March. Burns said it had a "fair chance" of being ready before then.
9) The deal marks a major policy shift for the United States, which imposed sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests. The restrictions have since been lifted.
10) Under the deal, Washington is to share civilian nuclear technology and supply nuclear fuel to India in return for New Delhi separating its tightly entwined civilian and military nuclear programs and allowing international inspections of its civilian atomic facilities.
11) The separation is necessary because the United States has only agreed to recognize India as having a civilian nuclear program _ not as a legitimate nuclear weapons state.
12) Burns and other U.S. officials say the deal is beneficial because it will bring India into the international nuclear community, even if the country hasn't signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global efforts to control the spread of atomic weapons.
13) But some members of the U.S. Congress have expressed reservations about ratifying the deal for just that reason, arguing it could undermine the treaty.
14) Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam said at the press conference that there was a "fund of goodwill for India in the U.S. Congress," and that India remains hopeful that the deal will go through.
15) On Iran, Burns reiterated the United States' desire that the Islamic republic be hauled before the U.N. Security Council, where it could face sanctions over an atomic program the international community fears will be used to build atomic weapons.
16) India, in contrast, has pushed a softer line, urging negotiation with Tehran, although officials say they agree with Washington that Tehran should not develop weapons.
17) "We would not like to see a situation of confrontation developing in a region that is very close to India," Saran said Friday. "Therefore our advice has been a confrontation should be avoided."
18) India, which has few domestic sources of fuel, plans to build a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan, a project that has raised concerns in Washington.
2006-01-24
Pakistan, Iran officials press on talks on gas pipeline opposed by Washington
(APW_ENG_20060124.0195)
1) Pakistani and Iranian petroleum officials were expected to sign an agreement Tuesday on a gas pipeline project that Washington opposes due to Iran's nuclear program, a Pakistani official said.
2) Iran proposed the US$4 billion (euro3.35 billion) natural gas pipeline _ which would run through Pakistan and supply both that country and India _ in 1996.
3) But it stalled, mainly because of India's concerns about the pipeline passing through its archrival, Pakistan. Now, the two nuclear-armed neighbors are in the midst of a historic attempt at forging peace, and in recent months the three countries have held talks and agreed to proceed, ignoring U.S. opposition.
4) Iran's Deputy Minister for Petroleum M.H. Nejad Hosseinian was set to meet with Pakistani petroleum ministry officials Tuesday _ the final day of their talks_ to sign a pact on building the pipeline, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing government policy.
5) Also Tuesday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House to discuss several issues.
6) U.S.-Pakistani relations have recently become strained, with many in the Islamic nation angered by the an U.S. airstrike in a remote part of northern Pakistan that killed at least 13 people, including women and children, on Jan. 13.
7) Pakistan is a key ally in Washington's attempt to battle terrorism, and Washington has contributed millions of dollars (euros) in aid to Pakistan after the region's devastating October 8 earthquake.
8) U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has said the U.S. opposes the pipeline because Iran is "a very unreliable partner" and is trying to build a nuclear weapons capability.
9) In an interview with Pakistan's independent Geo television network, broadcast Monday, Burns urged Pakistan and India to seek energy from other sources, like the oil- and gas-rich former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
10) However, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said his country would not bow to U.S. pressure to abandon the project, because Pakistan needs gas to meet growing energy requirements.
11) "We are working in our national interest," she said.
12) If Pakistan and Iran reach an agreement, the work on the 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) pipeline could begin this year.
2006-01-25
2006-01-27
U.S.-India relations blossoming, but leaders say nuclear talks, bureaucracy prickly issues
(APW_ENG_20060127.1108)
1) The relationship between the United States and India is blossoming, but a proposed pipeline with Iran, nuclear proliferation and bureaucracy are just a few of the hurdles that could stall its progress, leaders said Friday at the World Economic Forum.
2) U.S. trade with India is one-tenth that of China, a point of contention at this year's annual meeting in Davos, where China has touted its massive market possibilities, and India _ which sent pashmina shawls and iPod shuffles to hotel guests at this Ski resort _ has been showing off its democracy.
3) Although India's software exports were almost doubling each year, and outsourcing exports were expected to surpass US$22 billion (euro18.3 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March, both sides agreed Indian bureaucracy _ a holdover of British colonialism _ was a hindrance.
4) U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to visit India in March.
5) "We should be seeing numbers that are three or four times larger for the type of trade between our two countries," said Josette Shiner, U.S. Undersecretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, remarking on India's 6-7 percent growth rate, compared to China's 9.9 percent. "The bureaucratic issues are really central to that."
6) One issue that could prove prickly in the coming months was India's relationship with Iran, which provoked an international outcry Jan. 10 when it cut seals of the International Atomic Energy Agency at its main enrichment plant and resumed small-scale uranium enrichment _ a process that can be used to produce fuel or material for atomic bombs.
7) India, which has few domestic sources of fuel, plans to build a 1,750-mile (2,816-kilometers) gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan. The project has raised concerns in Washington, which wants India's support in referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
8) India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, said the U.S.-India relationship had become more transparent in the past decade and sympathized with Washington's concerns.
9) "It's not that global threats are only seen by the European Union and the United States," he said, calling for cooperation with the U.S. Congress. "Without going into what is the Iran issue, I think that our relations ... are strong and it does not cloud it. It should not cloud it."
10) He said, however, that the stakes were high for a nuclear energy agreement.
11) A deal was signed in July when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington, marking a major policy shift for the United States, which imposed sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests. The restrictions have since been lifted.
12) Under the deal, Washington is to share civilian nuclear technology and supply nuclear fuel to India in return for New Delhi separating its civilian and military nuclear programs and allowing international inspections of its atomic facilities.
13) The separation is necessary because the U.S. has only agreed to recognize India as having a civilian nuclear program _ not as a legitimate nuclear weapons state.
14) U.S. Ambassador David Mulford said recently, however, that the deal could "die" if New Delhi supports Iran during a U.N. atomic watchdog agency meeting in February.
15) "The stakes for a nuclear energy agreement are high for India," he said.
16) Shiner said dealing with the energy issues was critical to India's development, and both sides were working through "complex negotiations."
17) The U.S., however, was clear in its belief that Iran was a global threat.
18) Another issue at stake in the U.S. _ as well as India _ was the issue of intellectual property, Shiner said.
19) "We need a global coalition that says we need to protect our creators, we need to protect our brand names ... all a company has is the integrity of its brand name."
2006-02-17
India's premier: India wants closer ties with Iran, despite nuclear vote
(APW_ENG_20060217.0462)
1) India wants to strengthen its ties with Iran, despite Indian support to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament on Friday.
2) Singh also took a jab at Pakistan in a speech to Indian lawmakers, saying the source of secret proliferation lay in "our own neighborhood" _ an apparent reference to Pakistan's national hero and discredited nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, who allegedly leaked nuclear secrets.
3) Singh has faced widespread criticism from his leftist allies, whose support is crucial to the survival of his coalition government, over India's support for a resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran to the Security Council over fears it wants to produce nuclear weapons.
4) "Iran's vote on the IAEA resolution does not, in any way, detract from the traditionally close and friendly relations we are privileged to enjoy with Iran," Singh said. "We intend to further strengthen and expand our multifaceted ties with Iran for mutual benefit."
5) He noted that "there remain many unresolved questions on key issues" in Iran's nuclear program, but that only diplomacy could bring a resolution to the international crisis.
6) India is "deeply concerned by the escalating rhetoric and growing tension and the possibility of a confrontation over this issue," he said. "We therefore call upon all concerned to exercise restraint, demonstrate flexibility and continue with dialogue to reach an amicable settlement."
7) Singh's comments are seen as an attempt to soothe communist parties that control 61 seats in India's 545-seat Parliament. The communists say Singh is bending to pressure from the United States to betray Iran, a longtime Indian ally.
8) India is walking a thin diplomatic line between the two countries. It has signed a landmark nuclear pact with the United States that would let New Delhi import American nuclear fuel for its civilian program and is also negotiating a trans-Asian pipeline project with Iran.
9) Both agreements are part of India's ambitious efforts to increase its availability of energy. With international oil prices rising, India is looking to other sources, including nuclear power, to fuel its booming economy, one of the fastest growing in the world.
10) Singh also made an indirect reference to alleged nuclear proliferation from Pakistan.
11) "Honorable members are aware that the source of such clandestine proliferation of sensitive technologies lies in our own neighborhood, details of which have emerged from successive IAEA reports," he said. "This august house will agree that India cannot afford to turn a blind eye to security implications of such proliferation activities."
12) Khan, known as the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, ran a network that allegedly smuggled nuclear technology overseas. He and the country's nuclear program have come under widespread criticism, particularly for proliferation concerns.
2006-02-22
Indian ambassador expresses optimism over U.S.-India nuclear deal
(APW_ENG_20060222.0012)
1) India's ambassador to the United States said he was optimistic that the two countries could settle a landmark agreement to share civilian nuclear technology.
2) Ambassador Ronen Sen, speaking to reporters after a speech at the National Press Club Tuesday, cautioned that hard work remains.
3) "I don't underestimate the difficulty," Sen said. "But with political will on both sides, I think it is not beyond our reach."
4) "When we undertake an obligation," he said, "we always honor it."
5) The deal reached last July, and which U.S. lawmakers have yet to approve, is seen as a cornerstone of the emerging alliance between India and the United States, as well as an effort to balance China's growing economic and political influence in Asia.
6) Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is to visit India this week to continue talks on the agreement, ahead of President George W. Bush's trip to the region next month.
7) Supporters say the plan with the United States is crucial to energy-starved India, a U.S. ally that wants more nuclear plants to meet the needs of its more than 1 billion people but lacks the technology to build reactors and the fuel to run them.
8) Some lawmakers and analysts fear the Bush plan might undermine the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow rogue nations to build nuclear weapons programs with imported civilian nuclear technology. India has not signed the treaty.
9) Sen said Tuesday that India has managed its civil nuclear program responsibly since its inception in the 1950s. "Just because our commitment to nuclear nonproliferation was born out of our own sense of responsibility and restraint, its importance should not be minimized nor trivialized," he said.
10) India's relationship with neighboring Pakistan also is likely to draw attention during Bush's trip. The nuclear rivals have fought three wars since the subcontinent's partition at independence from Britain in 1947.
11) Last month, Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said he suggested during talks with Bush that the U.S. president could help facilitate peace in troubled Kashmir, parts of which both Pakistan and India claim. He would not provide specifics, saying only that Pakistan hoped Bush "can create history by aiding the peace process."
12) On Tuesday, Sen said that while relations with Pakistan are important, Pakistan is India's third largest neighbor, after China and Indonesia. "Why should we focus exclusively on the third largest neighbor?" Sen asked.
13) He acknowledged that India and Pakistan "have differences. But we are not going to allow those differences to come as an artificial speed breaker in every issue and to hold the entire relationship hostage. We have decided that we will move ahead in other areas."
2006-02-26
Success of Bush trip to India, Pakistan depends on nuclear deal
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1) U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to India this week will be judged by whether he seals a nuclear deal with New Delhi, yet its success also depends on whether he finds a new footing with a burgeoning economic power that some Americans fear and others embrace.
2) Only four other U.S. presidents have visited India and Pakistan, and Bush's trip, following President Bill Clinton's trek there in 2000, is further indication that India holds intense interest for America.
3) A nation of more than 1 billion people, India is the world's largest democracy, and has the second largest population of Muslims, after Indonesia. U.S. businesses are eyeing India's fast-growing economy; some estimates put the population of India's middle class at 300 million.
4) "Think about that," Bush said last week in a speech to the Asia Society. "That's greater than the entire population of the United States."
5) Some Americans see India as a threat to their jobs. They are wary of India's cheap labor markets. But the administration argues that U.S. jobs will be created if American companies stay competitive in the global marketplace.
6) Last year, U.S. exports to India grew by more than 30 percent.
7) "India's middle class is buying air conditioners, kitchen appliances and washing machines and a lot of them from American companies like GE and Whirlpool and Westinghouse," Bush said.
8) India could be a counterweight to the rising power of China, which the United States views as a potential rival. But India has little interest in playing that role.
9) "There is no way better to empty a drawing room in Delhi of Indian strategists than to start talking about this idea," said former U.S. ambassador to India Robert Blackwill.
10) The president is also visiting neighboring Pakistan where mass demonstrations against cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, first printed in a Danish newspaper, have turned into platforms for protests against the United States, the Pakistani government of Pervez Musharraf, and the war in Iraq.
11) Bush's daylong visit to Islamabad will be an opportunity to work to reverse anti-American sentiment and nurture U.S. relations with Musharraf, a loyal friend in fighting terrorists. Some Americans think Musharraf can do more, but Pakistan claims it has arrested about 700 al-Qaida suspects in the past four years, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
12) Talks about terrorism and economic relations, however, likely will be overshadowed by discussion about the nuclear agreement. A framework for a deal was announced by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmoham Singh at the White House last July.
13) "We're making progress, but we're not yet there," National Security Adviser Steve Hadley said Friday.
14) Supporters say it will allow the United States to provide the technology and nuclear fuel India needs to meet its growing needs for energy, and ease demand for oil. In exchange, India vows to separate its nuclear energy work from its nuclear weapons activity and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to its civilian program.
15) The deal faces opposition in both countries.
16) In New Dehli, opponents claim the United States is pushing to put far too many of India's civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards _ a move they suspect is America's way of trying to weaken India's nuclear weapons program.
17) Opponents in the United States say the pact makes India an exception to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which India will not sign. They say the deal, which Congress would have to approve, will undermine the nonproliferation treaty and only lead to the further spread of nuclear weapons. The only way, they say, to avoid that is to force India to put both its civilian and military weapons facilities under IAEA oversight.
18) "I don't care what kind of deal the Bush administration works out with the Indians on safeguards," said Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat and co-chairman of the House Nuclear Nonproliferation Task Force. "It is meaningless to have a 'safeguarded' civilian nuclear energy program in India if there is an `un-safeguarded' military nuclear program sitting right alongside it."
2006-02-27
Indian prime minister pledges not to compromise security in nuclear deal with U.S.
(APW_ENG_20060227.0844)
1) Negotiations over a landmark nuclear deal with the United States are at a delicate stage, India's prime minister told lawmakers Monday, promising skeptical communist partners and Hindu nationalist opponents that he would not compromise national security.
2) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said that the country's fast-breeder program _ which has become a particularly contentious issue in the discussions _ would not be included in inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
3) If finalized, the pact would allow the United States to provide nuclear technology and fuel that India needs to meet the energy needs of its booming economy. In return, India has pledged to separate its programs and open the civilian ones to IAEA inspections.
4) A framework for an agreement was announced by Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House in July, and both sides had hoped to have it completed before the American president arrives in India on Wednesday.
5) "I had emphasized then and I reiterate today that no part of this process would affect or compromise our strategic program," Singh said in a speech in Parliament's upper house. "We will ensure that no impediments are put in the way of our research and development activities."
6) The pact would provide New Delhi with much-needed uranium even as it develops technology to use another radioactive material, thorium, instead of uranium, in its nuclear plants. India has the world's largest thorium deposits.
7) For Washington, the nuclear pact is a major diplomatic U-turn since 1998, when New Delhi carried out multiple nuclear tests that led to economic sanctions from several countries. India later vowed to never use nuclear weapons unless attacked.
8) In the years since, India's swiftly globalizing economy has soared at some of the world's fastest rates, led by an information technology boom. With international oil prices rising, India is now looking to other sources, including nuclear power, to support the swift economic growth.
9) Talks to finalize the deal have been held up over which of India's nuclear facilities would be designated as civilian and which would be considered military.
10) "Negotiations are currently at a delicate stage ... There are complex issues involved," Singh said. "In our dialogue with our interlocutors, we have judged every proposal made by the U.S. side on merits, but we remain firm in that the decision of what facilities may be identified as civilian will be made by India alone, and not by anyone else."
11) Separating India's tightly entwined civilian and military nuclear programs is key to the deal because the United States has only agreed to recognize India as having a civilian nuclear program _ not as a legitimate nuclear weapons state. However, Singh said that in the July agreement, "the United States implicitly acknowledged the existence of our nuclear weapons program."
12) Further, the deal could give India all the benefits enjoyed by signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, although New Delhi, which calls the pact discriminatory, is not a signatory.
13) "The tremendous achievements of our scientists in mastering the complete nuclear fuel cycle _ the product of their genius and perseverance _ will not be frittered away," he said. "We have made it clear that we cannot accept safeguards on our indigenous fast-breeder program."
14) A fast-breeder reactor produces plutonium, which can be used for producing energy or nuclear weapons.
15) The nuclear deal is also seen as an attempt by the United States to wean away India from its other major energy pursuit _ a trans-Asian pipeline project with Iran that Washington has publicly opposed.
16) "This will not only address energy needs for India, but it will also address important proliferation issues," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. "We've made some progress. The negotiations are ongoing. Whether it gets done during the trip or not, we will see. But we believe it will get done."
17) There is opposition to the nuclear deal from Indian and American lawmakers, including Indian communist parties that are propping up Singh's government with crucial legislative support. Singh has support from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, but its president, Rajnath Singh, said Monday the agenda of the visit was "clouded in unnecessary secrecy."
18) Earlier Monday, according to Press Trust of India, U.S. Ambassador David C. Mulford told reporters: "This is a very complicated area ... We are hoping we can reach the agreement by the time the president visits here and every effort is being made to do so."
2006-02-28
2006-03-01
Bush trip meant to cement alliances in South Asia
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1) President George W. Bush arrives in South Asia intent on cementing crucial U.S. alliances with India and Pakistan and possibly to complete a landmark agreement to share civilian nuclear technology with India.
2) An unannounced stop in Afghanistan also was possible.
3) In India, where Bush begins his five-day visit to the region Wednesday, the president was being greeted by business and government officials eager to boost trade and military ties _ and by crowds of protesters, 1,000 of whom gathered Tuesday in Bombay, waving signs that read "Devil Bush Go Back."
4) The trip comes amid political turmoil for Bush in Washington. He has been roundly criticized for his response to Hurricane Katrina and for a surge in bloodshed in Iraq. Most recently, members of the president's own Republican Party have revolted over a decision to allow a United Arab Emirates-based company to operate parts of six major U.S. ports.
5) This week's visit allows Bush to show India and Pakistan that the United States values relations with each, despite complaints about closer ties in all three countries.
6) Pakistan is a key U.S. ally, but many in Washington want to see Islamabad make stronger efforts to dismantle terrorist training camps.
7) Bush has indicated he wants to make sure Pakistan elections scheduled for next year will be free and fair. Critics say Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the president, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has refused to allow true democracy.
8) Bush has also said he will use his visit to urge Pakistan and India to build on ties forged after a devastating October earthquake to create a lasting peace in the troubled Kashmir region, parts of which both countries claim.
9) Still, it is the nuclear negotiations with India that are likely to be the trip's focus. The effort is seen as the cornerstone of the emerging U.S.-India alliance, and, by some, as a counterbalance to China's growing influence in Asia.
10) Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed an agreement in July that would provide India with much-needed nuclear fuel in return for stronger Indian safeguards.
11) Talks between the countries have been held up over which of India's nuclear facilities are to be designated civilian and which are to be considered military. The pact must eventually be approved by the U.S. Congress, where lawmakers have expressed frustration with the administration for what they described as a lack of information about the deal.
12) Bush has acknowledged that the work will require patience on both sides. Singh recently told Indian lawmakers that India would not compromise the country's security to seal the deal.
2006-03-02
India-U.S. nuclear deal still elusive, with Bush in New Delhi
(APW_ENG_20060302.0125)
1) U.S. President George W. Bush says he doesn't know if he'll be able to seal his elusive nuclear deal with India during his three-day visit here to enhance relations with the world's largest democracy.
2) Bush, in India until Saturday morning, wants to share U.S. nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy even though India won't sign the international nonproliferation treaty. In return, Washington wants assurances that India's nuclear industry is safeguarded and inspected.
3) If reached, the landmark accord would represent a major shift in policy for the United States, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests.
4) "We'll continue to dialogue and work, and hopefully we can reach an agreement," Bush said Wednesday. "If not, we'll continue to work on it until we do."
5) Bush, who arrived in New Delhi late Wednesday, was to receive a traditional welcome Thursday morning at New Delhi's presidential palace, with cavalry soldiers, a gun salute and a military honor guard.
6) He then was scheduled to visit the memorial of India's independence leader, M.K. Gandhi, before beginning crucial talks, including on the nuclear deal, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
7) On Wednesday, Bush played down the significance of finishing the deal during his visit. But the success of his trip will be judged on whether the two sides can agree on how to split India's nuclear weapons work from its peaceful nuclear program, and place the latter under international inspection.
8) "The one thing that is absolutely necessary is that any agreement would assure that once India has decided to put a reactor under safeguard that it remain permanently under safeguard," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on the plane.
9) Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has stressed the need for clarity, saying "We need to make sure there are no ambiguities which may create difficulties for us in the future."
10) Bush is the fifth U.S. president to visit India, which is home to more than 1 billion people and has the second-largest Muslim population.
11) While Bush remains more popular in India than he is in many other countries, not all Indians were happy to see him.
12) At a protest Wednesday in central New Delhi, tens of thousands of people, many of them Muslim, chanted "Death to Bush!" and waved placards reading, "Bully Bush, Go Home." Muslims in India's part of Kashmir also protested the Bush visit.
13) "The people of India have a categoric message for George Bush: Go home!" V.P. Singh, a former prime minister of India, said to roars of approval from the crowd.
14) The last-minute efforts to craft the nuclear pact coupled with Wednesday's protests reflected India's mixed feelings toward Bush and the United States _ a country seen both as a loyal friend and a global bully.
15) Some lawmakers in Washington argue that the Bush administration is making a side deal to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Critics in India are wary that the United States is meddling in Indian affairs, and is using India as a counterweight to China's growing economic and political influence.
Bush says nuclear agreement with India could help lower fuel prices
(APW_ENG_20060302.0572)
1) U.S. President George W. Bush got a victory Thursday on his first visit to India, securing a landmark nuclear energy agreement that he said could help ease energy prices.
2) Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the deal, which will open most Indian reactors to international inspections and provide the nation with U.S. nuclear technology, during a joint news conference after meeting privately to hammer out details.
3) The agreement between the world's oldest and largest democracies was a political coup, too, for Singh. "We made history," he said, standing alongside Bush in a sunwashed palace courtyard.
4) Under the accord, the United States will share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy. It represents a major shift in policy for the United States, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests.
5) "We concluded an historic agreement today on nuclear power," Bush said. "It's not an easy job for the prime minister to achieve this agreement, I understand. It's not easy for the American president to achieve this agreement, but it's a necessary agreement. It's one that will help both our peoples."
6) Critics say the United States is using India as a counterweight to China's growing economic and political influence. And they argue that the agreement sends the wrong signal to leaders of North Korea and Iran, who have thumbed their noses at international monitoring of their weapons programs.
7) Bush disagreed. "What this agreement says is things change, times change _ that leadership can make a difference," he said.
8) "I'm trying to think differently, and not stay stuck in the past."
9) The agreement will require U.S. congressional approval. Bush immediately acknowledged that will be difficult to win.
10) Bush said he will tell lawmakers that the U.S.-India relationship is changing for the better and that it is in the United States' interest to cooperate with India on its nuclear programs. He also said the deal could be a boon for U.S. consumers.
11) "Proliferation is certainly a concern and a part of our discussions, and we've got a good faith gesture by the Indian government that I'll be able to take to the Congress," Bush said. "But the other thing that our Congress has got to understand _ that it's in our economic interests that India have a civilian nuclear power industry to help take the pressure off of the global demand for energy."
12) In Washington, Democratic Rep. Ed Markey _ an outspoken critic of the deal _ called it a "historic nuclear failure" that puts U.S. national security in danger.
13) "With one simple move the president has blown a hole in the nuclear rules that the entire world has been playing by," Markey said.
14) But U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, defended the agreement.
15) "India and Pakistan had never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and therefore they weren't in violation of it by having nuclear programs," Bolton said in New York.
16) Bush and Singh also announced new bilateral cooperation on an array of issues from investment to trade, health to the environment, agriculture to technology, and even mangoes. "Mr. Prime Minister, the United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes," Bush said of a provision that will bring the country's beloved fruit to the U.S. for the first time in nearly two decades.
17) The two leaders also discussed terrorism, Pakistan and Nepal, said Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
18) But the civilian nuclear agreement is the major building block of renewed relations between the United States and India, which is seeking greater recognition on the world stage.
19) India insists it has been a good steward of nuclear material for decades and that there has never been one incident of proliferation from it.
20) But Singh's leftist allies criticized the pact, saying it paves the way for U.S. meddling in Indian affairs. "Today is one of the most shameful days in the history of independent India," said Shambhu Shrivastava, spokesman for the socialist Samata Party.
21) Bush and Singh signed an agreement in July, but it hinged partly on determining how to segregate India's nuclear weapons work from its civilian nuclear program. A senior U.S. official and a senior Indian official said in separate briefings that India classified 14 of its 22 reactors as civilian, which would open them to international inspection. Eight were deemed military reactors, exempting them from inspection.
22) The late night negotiations for the nuclear pact, coupled with protests planned throughout Bush's stay, reflected India's mixed feelings about the visit by the leader of the United States _ a country seen as a loyal friend by some and a global bully by others.
23) Many business and government leaders are eager to strengthen ties with the United States.
24) But for a second day Thursday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in New Delhi to protest Bush's visit. Dozens of politicians, mainly from leftist parties, stood on the steps of the country's national parliament building chanting "Bush go back!" and "Down with Bush!"
25) "We're saying this because he is the biggest killer of humanity in the 21st century. He has killed in Afghanistan, he has killed Iraqis and now he is bent on killing Iranians," said Hannan Mollah, a lawmaker from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). "The Indian government should not get into any deal with the Americans."
26) Bush said he was mourning the loss of life in a bombing Thursday near the U.S. consulate in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi. At least four people died, including a U.S. foreign service officer. The attack occurred hundreds of miles from Islamabad, where Bush was headed later this week.
27) "Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," Bush said.
28) The day ended with an elaborate state dinner hosted by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam under a crescent moon in a lush courtyard at the presidential palace. Waiters in red tunics and red-and-white turbans scurried to serve the two heads of state who toasted the gathering with mango juice.
2006-03-03
2006-03-06
India's prime minister calls for diplomacy to resolve Iran nuclear crisis
(APW_ENG_20060306.0447)
1) India's prime minister said Monday that more time was needed for diplomacy to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis as the U.N. atomic watchdog prepared to meet on Tehran's nuclear program.
2) A defiant Iran has warned the 35 nations of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board, which includes India, that it will press ahead with uranium enrichment if they push for U.N. Security Council action this week over concerns the Islamic republic is seeking nuclear arms.
3) India has long-standing ties with Iran, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told lawmakers that "confrontation should be avoided at all costs."
4) "For this to be possible, time must be given for diplomacy to work," he said. "Confrontation is not in the interest of India or of our region."
5) The IAEA was to meet this week in Vienna to discuss Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes.
6) The United States has long pushed a hard line on Iran, and while India and America are growing closer _ a fact highlighted by last week's visit of U.S. President George W. Bush _ Singh's comments served as a reminder that New Delhi will likely continue to chart its own foreign policy course on Iran.
7) Singh did not say which way India would go if the IAEA meeting comes down to a vote over whether the Security Council should take punitive action against Iran.
8) Indian officials have said they do not want Iran to develop nuclear weapons. But Singh has faced scathing criticism from left-wing political allies since India in February supported an IAEA resolution referring Tehran to the council, which could impose sanctions.
9) Communist political parties crucial to the parliamentary majority of Singh's coalition have accused the prime minister of bowing to pressure from the United States to vote against Iran, a longtime Indian ally.
10) In comments clearly aimed at placating those critics, Singh told Parliament on Monday that his "government is committed to widening, deepening and expanding our diverse and mutually beneficial ties with Iran."
11) India, which has few domestic sources of fuel, plans to build a 2,800-kilometer (1,750-mile) gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan, a project that has raised concerns in Washington.
12) Any move by the Security Council to impose sanctions on Tehran could threaten the pipeline project, though delegates to Monday's IAEA meeting have suggested the board will not push for the Security Council to immediately confront Iran.
13) Any initial decisions the council may make based on the outcome of board meeting will be mild, stopping far short of sanctions, the delegates have suggested.
14) Before Singh addressed lawmakers Monday, his spokesman said the prime minister told Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend that India supported Moscow's efforts to diffuse tensions over Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment, an activity that can make both fuel or the core of nuclear warheads.
15) Russia has offered to establish a joint uranium enrichment venture with Iran as a way to ease concerns that Tehran could divert nuclear material for weapons.
16) In a telephone call late Saturday, Singh told Putin that India "welcomed Russia's efforts to address the issue related to Iran's nuclear program," according to the prime minister's spokesman, Sanjaya Baru.
2006-03-10
2006-03-13
U.S. energy secretary says nuclear cooperation not on agenda of talks with Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20060313.0522)
1) Washington won't discuss nuclear cooperation with Pakistan and firmly opposes a proposed pipeline to bring natural gas here from Iran, the U.S. energy secretary said Monday. But Pakistan vowed to press forward with both issues to meet its growing energy needs.
2) U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who was on a one-day visit to Pakistan following a brief stopover by President George W. Bush earlier this month, said Pakistani officials raised the nuclear issue in talks Monday, but added that relations between the two nations did not extend to cooperation in that area.
3) "We have developed a very wide-ranging and effective set of dialogue and discussions with Pakistan, but it does not include nuclear energy," Bodman told reporters.
4) "There were expressions made by various members of the government about their desire to talk about nuclear energy but it was just not a subject that I was ... prepared to deal with," he said.
5) The visit came just over a week after Bush visited Islamabad and signaled his government's opposition to providing assistance for Pakistan's nuclear program, days after he sealed a deal with rival India to support its atomic energy ambitions.
6) Pakistan and India both have nuclear weapons and have fought three wars since the bloody partition of the subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947. A recent peace process has improved relations, but the two nations still consider each other rivals.
7) Despite his reluctance to discuss nuclear assistance, Bodman said he was in Pakistan to learn more about its "strategic" energy needs and ways to help the impoverished country pursue natural gas, water, coal and solar power generation, including by promoting private investment.
8) He also invited Pakistani officials to visit Washington and discuss collaboration in non-nuclear energy sectors.
9) But Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan needed a civilian nuclear program to meet its energy demands and would keep pushing the U.S. to offer it the same support as it did India.
10) The Bush administration also opposes a plan supported by both India and Pakistan to build a pipeline that would bring natural gas to the region from western Iran _ a nation the U.S. accuses of trying to build nuclear bombs.
11) "Our country has had and continues to have significant problems with Iran and we believe they seek to build a military arsenal based on nuclear weapons and we are trying to prevent that," Bodman said.
12) Washington found it impossible "to lend support to a contractual relationship with Iran," he said, referring to the planned pipeline.
13) The United States opposes any major investments that benefit Tehran, but Pakistan and India have said they plan to go ahead with the project.
14) "We are an energy starved country and we need this gas pipeline," said Tasnim, the Pakistani spokeswoman. "It is a priority for us."
15) Bodman's visit comes days before Pakistani and Indian officials are scheduled to travel to Iran for discussions on the pipeline and importing natural gas from Tehran.
16) Iran proposed the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline in 1996, but the project never got off the ground, mainly because of Indian concerns over its security in Pakistan.
2006-03-15
U.S. opposition to Iran gas pipeline raises Asian energy tensions
(APW_ENG_20060315.0241)
1) The United States could hurt peace efforts between India and Pakistan by offering civilian nuclear aid to New Delhi and opposing a planned Iranian gas pipeline crossing the subcontinent, analysts say.
2) Officials from India, Pakistan and Iran were meeting in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss the multibillion-dollar pipeline which has the potential to forge a lasting link between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars.
3) Analysts say U.S. opposition to the pipeline is aimed at curbing Iran, which Washington says is trying to build nuclear weapons, while the U.S. offer of nuclear aid to India reflects an effort to offset China's growing power in Asia.
4) But both policies could undermine peace efforts between India and Pakistan, which have rapidly rising needs for energy, the local and international experts said. It also signals that Washington places its interests in the region above those of sovereign governments, they said.
5) "This shows the extreme contradictions of the American policy in the region and indicates that it is only looking after its own national interests, which are completely contrary to the interests of other countries," said Talat Masood, a former Pakistani general and political analyst.
6) U.S. President George W. Bush announced in India this month that America would supply the Asian giant's civilian nuclear program with atomic energy and fuel.
7) The deal flies in the face of decades of American anti-proliferation policy that has rejected providing atomic aid to countries _ like India _ that don't have U.N.-approved safeguards on all reactors. Congress must either amend U.S. law or approve an exception if the agreement is to go ahead.
8) India's longtime rival, neighboring Pakistan, demands the same deal, but has instead been given an American cold shoulder, with Bush saying the two countries have "different needs and different histories." Washington has, however, promised to help promote coal, hydroelectric, solar and wind energy here.
9) U.S. reluctance to help Pakistan with nuclear technology _ which it already gets from China to support its civilian nuclear program _ likely reflects concerns over its proliferation record.
10) A.Q. Khan, a top Pakistani scientist who helped build its nuclear bomb, was exposed two years ago as the chief of a lucrative black market in weapons technology that supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea.
11) Pakistan's government denied any knowledge of his proliferation activities, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said it was unfair to punish the country for rogue acts by scientists.
12) "The U.S. can have its own stance but we are going to do what is on our own national interests," Aslam said of Pakistan's nuclear plans.
13) Aslam also said Pakistan will push forward with India to build the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline linking them to natural gas fields in Iran which was first proposed in 1996.
14) Hopes for its completion have grown since India and Pakistan launched their peace process two years ago.
15) But U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in Islamabad Monday that Washington won't support any development that would see economic benefit go to Iran. Iran denies that wants to build atomic weapons, saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity.
16) "To use this as a method for punishing Iran for its nuclear ambitions seems to be not well thought out," said U.S.-based energy analyst Ken Stern.
17) "The pipeline is a win-win situation for all by providing much needed energy for the developing economy of India and revenue for Pakistan, and it clearly provides an opportunity for forging a link between Pakistan and India," he said.
18) One leading Asia expert, Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, believes that the U.S. hardball tactics will win out and force the South Asian countries to choose to support a world superpower over Iran.
19) "We are seeing the most interesting and complex churning in the region for many years, especially in relations with the U.S.," said Roy-Chaudhury. "But I don't think New Delhi and Islamabad will be taking on Washington just for Tehran's sake."
2006-03-17
Indian prime minister seeks greater energy cooperation with Russia
(APW_ENG_20060317.0476)
1) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday sought greater cooperation from Russia in energy, days after Moscow agreed to sell India uranium the country needs to keep one of its main nuclear power plants going.
2) Singh said India would also welcome Russia's help in construction of a pipeline that would bring natural gas from Iran to India through Pakistan.
3) "I am confident that both countries will utilize opportunities to expand our partnership in civil nuclear energy cooperation," Singh told reporters after daylong talks with visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.
4) Singh thanked Fradkov for his government's decision to supply fuel to the Tarapur nuclear facility in western India, which came despite objections by the United States.
5) Fradkov, on a two-day trip to New Delhi, earlier defended the sale, saying it is "in the interest of both the countries."
6) He also said Russia's decision was within "international frameworks," and did not "contradict international commitments" that apply to fuel sales to countries like India, which haven't signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty.
7) Singh said India plans a substantial increase in the share of nuclear power in its energy mix. Currently, nuclear power accounts for less than 3 percent of India's total energy consumption and efforts to produce more nuclear power have been constrained by international curbs on sale of nuclear fuel to the country.
8) Singh said he would press G-8 countries to ease the curbs when their leaders meet in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July. The Indian leader has also been invited to attend the G-8 summit, which will focus on energy security.
9) With their economies booming, India and China have been driving the global demand and prices for oil, and many industrialized countries fear this could hurt their consumers.
10) That is why, U.S. President George W. Bush says, curbs on India should be eased so that the country can produce more nuclear energy and demand less of fossil fuels.
11) Earlier this month, India and the U.S. signed a landmark deal in which the U.S. agreed to supply India with the fuel to meet its burgeoning energy needs. In return India agreed to separate its military and civilian nuclear programs and open the civilian plants to international inspection.
12) The deal must be approved by the U.S. Congress.
13) Also Friday, India and Russia agreed to take measures to boost cross-border trade and signed an agreement relating to India's participation in the Global Satellite Navigation System, or GLONASS, which is the equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS. It serves both military and civilian purposes.
14) Singh said India would also welcome Russia help in non-nuclear energy. He said Moscow has significant expertise in building and operating gas pipelines and can help New Delhi, which plans to construct a US$8-billion pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran through Pakistan.
2006-03-18
Pakistan rejects U.S. move to share civilian nuclear technology with India
(APW_ENG_20060318.0102)
1) U.S. President George W. Bush's move to seek Congressional support for a plan to share civilian nuclear technology with India but not Pakistan could upset the balance of power in the region, the Foreign Ministry said.
2) Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Bush, who visited the South Asian neighbors earlier this month, should have offered both Islamabad and New Delhi similar deals to enhance their respective nuclear programs.
3) The U.S. plan will "only encourage India to continue its weapons program without any constraint or inhibition," the ministry said in a statement Friday.
4) On Wednesday, a bill was introduced to the U.S. Congress on Bush's behalf that would exempt nuclear-armed India from American laws that restrict the trade of nuclear material and equipment to countries that have not submitted to full nuclear inspections.
5) "The grant of (such a) waiver as a special case will have serious implications for the security environment in South Asia as well as for international nonproliferation efforts," the statement said.
6) Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in its was on terror, but Washington is refusing to share civilian nuclear technology with it, fearing it may not be able to keep the technology away from other countries.
7) Pakistan became a nuclear power in 1998 when it conducted underground tests in respond to India's nuclear tests, but the international community was alarmed in 2004 when top Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan admitted supplying Iran, North Korea and Libya with sensitive technology.
8) Although Khan was quickly detained, he was later pardoned due to his role in making Pakistan a nuclear power.
9) Energy-starved Pakistan and India are desperately seeking alternative fuel sources _ including nuclear and natural gas _ to provide for their huge populations and spur economic development. Both countries are discussing with Iran a plan to build a pipeline to supply natural gas, but the United States opposes the proposal.
10) Officials from Pakistan, India and Iran met this week in Tehran to discuss various technical, commercial and legal aspects of the pipeline, including pricing, the foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.
11) "This was the first trilateral meeting at which substantial progress has been achieved" the statement said. The next minister-level meeting will be held in Islamabad at the end of April to discuss "outstanding issues."
12) Iran proposed the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline in 1996, but the project never got off the ground, mainly because of Indian concerns over its security in Pakistan. The pipeline, expected to become operational in 2010, would supply around 60 million cubic meters of gas a day to India and up to 30 million cubic meters a day to Pakistan.
13) Pakistan and India both have nuclear weapons and have fought three wars since the bloody partition of the subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947. A recent peace process has improved relations, but the two nations still consider each other rivals.
2006-03-22
Burns urges Congress to approve nuclear pact
(APW_ENG_20060322.1056)
1) President George W. Bush and a top U.S. diplomat urged Congress on Wednesday to approve a landmark plan to share nuclear technology with India _ a deal that could be a tough sell to lawmakers.
2) "India can be trusted," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said.
3) Bush said India has proven itself over 30 years to be a non-proliferator.
4) "It's in our interest that India use nuclear power to power their economic growth because ... there's a global connection between demand for fossil fuels elsewhere and price here," Bush said in the state of West Virginia, where he made remarks on Iraq and the war on terror.
5) Critics, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, are skeptical of the agreement reached March 2 by President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.
6) It requires Congress to exempt India from U.S. laws that restrict trade with countries, such as India, that have not submitted to full nuclear inspections.
7) Among concerns raised by Nunn, who played a leading role on military issues in Congress, were that the agreement would promote a regional arms race with China and Pakistan and make it more difficult for the United States to win support for sanctions against such countries as Iran and North Korea.
8) Burns said "we take his views very seriously." But, Burns said at a news conference, "we're far better off" having India submit to supervision under the agreement than having the country isolated.
9) He added that "India is a country that does not proliferate."
10) "We are going to make a convincing case," Burns said.
11) Legislation to implement the plan was introduced last week. Burns said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would testify in support of the measure.
12) Also, two assistant secretaries of state, Richard Boucher and Stephen Rademaker, were sent to Vienna to promote the plan with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of 35 nations that export nuclear technology.
13) "India is accepting international verification," he said. "India is accepting international inspection. Who can argue with that?"
14) He said the agreement reflects "the emergence of a new global partnership between India and the United States."
15) Burns said it should cause no problem with Pakistan, traditionally a rival of India, and that the United States maintains good, although different, relations with Pakistan.
16) Pakistan on Tuesday successfully test-fired a cruise missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit targets within a 310-mile (499 kilometer)range, the army said.
17) Both Pakistan and India are nuclear-capable nations.
2006-04-03
Bush calls India an ally in cause of democracy, but Delhi's friends aren't always Bush's
(APW_ENG_20060403.0256)
1) In the carefully lit ruins of an ancient fort, U.S. President George W. Bush ended his recent trip to India _ a visit that helped ease years of mutual distrust and ushered in a landmark nuclear agreement _ by insisting that "India has an historic duty to support democracy around the world."
2) Bush went on to list a handful of countries where, he said, people were suffering under oppressive regimes. Among them: Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
3) What he did not mention was that India has close ties to all three, and has little intention of actively spreading democracy to any of them.
4) New Delhi's foreign policy has occasionally raised eyebrows in Washington _ its friendship with Iran has been a concern at times, and it has been urged to put pressure on Myanmar to reform _ but it has shown little sign so far of impeding the U.S.-India nuclear deal, which is currently wending its way through Washington.
5) "While (ties to countries like Iran) may cause some friction, both India and the United States will learn to accommodate those frictions," said Ashok K. Mehta, a retired Indian general and a writer on security issues. "A strategic partnership does not come down to a black and white line."
6) Sometimes, though, India's foreign relations stand in stark contrast to Bush's comments.
7) Just a few days after Bush returned to Washington, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam left for a trip to Myanmar, also known as Burma, where a brutal, long-ruling junta has suppressed ethnic minorities, gunned down demonstrators and kept opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for years.
8) Though Kalam raised the issue of democratic reforms with the junta, India has also made clear it was more interested in Myanmar's energy supplies and Indian militants hiding along the India-Myanmar border.
9) The visit infuriated the Burmese exile community.
10) "As the world's biggest democracy, India is not doing much" to advance the cause of democratic change in Myanmar, said Soe Aung, a spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella group of opposition exiles.
11) Given India's energy needs and security concerns, it "will support the military regime in one way or another," he said in a telephone interview from Thailand.
12) In the days since Kalam's visit, both the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have urged India to press Myanmar for democratic reforms.
13) "India is a democracy and of course should raise this," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told U.S. lawmakers at a recent Senate subcommittee hearing.
14) But New Delhi offers no apologies for its ties to countries like Myanmar.
15) "While we encourage and support democracy, we would not like to ... be seen as thrusting democracy on any country," said Mehta.
16) Instead, top officials repeatedly insist, India's policies are rooted in self-interest.
17) In some ways, India's foreign relations are mirrored in Washington, which finds itself allied to such unlikely friends as Saudi Arabia _ with its secretive, autocratic government _ largely because of energy needs.
18) "The basic objective of our foreign policy, as well as our domestic policy, is to promote our enlightened national interests," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters earlier this year.
19) With an economy growing at 8 percent and limited domestic resources, that interest is often energy: Myanmar, Syria and Iran are all current or potential suppliers of oil or natural gas to India.
20) But it is India's relationship with Iran that gets the most attention.
21) "We have a strong and valuable relationship with Iran which we would like to take forward," Singh told parliament in February, noting Indo-Iranian ties "go back several millennia."
22) But if such relationships sometimes make Washington uncomfortable, the backlash has been fierce when the United States has openly put pressure on India over Tehran.
23) Indian lawmakers were infuriated when U.S. Ambassador David C. Mulford said in January that if India did not support referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program that the India-U.S. nuclear pact could "die" in the U.S. Congress, which still must act to get the agreement finalized.
24) Despite the anger over Mulford's comments, India still voted with the United States to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, where Tehran could face sanctions.
25) Less than two months after the vote _ and just three weeks after Bush was in Delhi _ Iranian Vice President Esfandiyar Rahim-Masha'i came to town.
26) He insisted relations between India and Iran were getting better all the time.
2006-04-22
Pakistani, Iranian leaders discuss gas pipeline project, both agree to expedite work
(APW_ENG_20060422.0555)
1) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart held talks Saturday to speed up work on a proposed pipeline to transport Iranian gas to Pakistan and India, the Foreign Ministry said.
2) President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Ahmadinejad held the discussion by telephone, the ministry said in a statement. It didn't specify who initiated the call, or say whether the two also discussed the ongoing controversy over Iran's nuclear program.
3) "The two leaders agreed that the experts of all sides should be asked to expedite the work on the pipeline project," the ministry statement said.
4) Iran proposed the project in 1996 but it hasn't gotten off the ground mainly because of India's concern for the safety of the pipeline passing through Pakistan, its archrival.
5) In recent months officials from Iran, Pakistan and India have held talks about various aspects of the proposed project, despite U.S. opposition. Washington accuses Tehran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, and has urged its two allies _ Pakistan and India _ to seek energy from other nations.
6) Washington is pressing for sanctions against Iran to force it to halt uranium enrichment. Tehran has so far resisted and says its nuclear program is aimed at generating power.
7) The U.S. says it is using diplomacy to end the dispute, but it hasn't ruled out a military option. Pakistan _ Iran's northeastern neighbor _ has expressed opposition to the use of military force against Iran to resolve the nuclear standoff.
2006-04-27
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2006-05-24
Iran foreign minister in Pakistan to boost bilateral cooperation, trade
(APW_ENG_20060524.0388)
1) Iran's foreign minister and top Pakistani officials discussed increased cooperation on a broad slate of issues Wednesday amid hopes that the neighbors could more than double their trade.
2) Manouchehr Mottaki and top economic advisers to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz focused on easing partnerships in banking, customs and agriculture during the first of two days of meetings, Aziz's office said in a statement.
3) Pakistan said the two countries had the potential to increase annual bilateral trade from US$400 million to US$1 billion.
4) Mottaki, who is also due to meet President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during his visit, said Iran was ready to provide electricity to the Pakistani port town of Gwadar, open a bank branch in Karachi and offer more loans to Pakistani businessmen.
5) Iran's first vice president, Parviz Dayoudi, is also expected in Pakistan on Thursday for talks that will include Tehran's dispute with Washington over Iran's nuclear program, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry official said.
6) "Definitely, the nuclear issue will also be discussed," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
7) Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, but it has opposed any use of force against Iran over its nuclear program, and has called for resolving the issue through peaceful means.
8) On Tuesday, Pakistan and neighboring India vowed to build a multibillion dollar pipeline to import natural gas from Tehran to meet their energy needs even as they failed to reach an accord with Iran on a gas pricing formula.
9) The United States opposes the US$7 billion (euro5.45 billion) gas pipeline because of its differences with Tehran over its nuclear program, which it alleges is for building a weapon although Tehran says it's only for power generation.
10) U.S. officials have urged Pakistan and India to give up the pipeline and seek other sources to satisfy their burgeoning energy demands.
11) Pakistan and Iran have long-standing ties, but relations were rocked in late 2003 when Tehran told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had received nuclear know-how from Pakistan _ the world's only known Islamic nuclear power.
12) Iran's admission forced Islamabad to arrest about a dozen scientists, including Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program and a revered figure among many Pakistanis. Khan was later fired, and officials say he is now confined to his Islamabad home amid tight security.
2006-07-16
Indian P.M. demands 'firm commitment' from Pakistan on controlling terrorism
(APW_ENG_20060716.0438)
1) India's prime minister on Sunday demanded a "firm commitment" backed by action from Pakistan that it will not let terrorists use its soil to stage attacks on India, a news report said.
2) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that the two-year-old peace process with Pakistan cannot move forward if terrorism "aided and abetted from outside" continues to claim lives in India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
3) PTI said Singh was speaking to Indian journalists on board his aircraft en route to the Russian city of St. Petersburg, where he will attend as an observer the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized countries.
4) Singh's comments came after a series of bomb blasts on the commuter train network in Bombay on Tuesday killed 182 people _ attacks that India says were carried out with the help of Pakistan-based groups. Pakistan has denied this.
5) "There has to be a firm commitment that Pakistani territory is not used to support terrorist acts directed against our country ... but the commitment has to be backed by action on the ground," Singh was quoted as saying.
6) Singh made similar tough statements on Friday, echoed by his foreign secretary on Saturday that signaled a new low in relations between the two nuclear rivals.
7) India accuses Pakistan of not doing enough to rein in militant groups in its territory, especially in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
8) The Muslim majority, Himalayan region of Kashmir is split between the two countries with separatists fighting for independence in the Indian part. India says Pakistan provides the separatists sanctuary and training, a charge Islamabad denies.
9) India is worried that the militants are becoming active in other parts of the country, given the numerous terrorist attacks in recent months.
10) Asked if India saw a direct Pakistani hand in the Bombay blasts, Singh said: "The terrorist acts were on a scale that could not be accomplished without some external involvement. That is what I would like to say at this stage."
11) Singh also refrained from making a direct attack on Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
12) Musharraf "is president of Pakistan and we have to deal with people who are in government. So I would not like to use any harsh words," he said.
13) Singh is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders in St. Petersburg. He is expected to urge them and the international community to issue a strong condemnation of the attacks in India.
14) Before leaving New Delhi, Singh had urged global leaders to show "zero tolerance" for terrorism anywhere.
2006-07-23
2006-07-24
Iran denies reports of trouble in gas deal with India
(APW_ENG_20060724.0684)
1) Iran denied on Monday a report that negotiations on a deal to build a gas pipeline between Iran and India have reached a deadlock, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
2) The pipeline and a second deal for India to buy liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from Iran, have been billed as solutions to ease India's energy shortage as its economy grows at one of the fastest rates in the world.
3) Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi denied on Monday that plans for the pipeline were in trouble, saying that an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki gave an incorrect impression because it had been "partially condensed," the Iranian news agency quoted Asefi as saying.
4) Mottaki was quoted on Sunday by Indian media outlets as saying the deal had become "a little bit complicated because of the changing of circumstances from the time when the contract and agreement (were) signed."
5) The Foreign Ministry spokesman Asefi said that pipeline negotiations will continue to see the project through. The pipeline is to pass through Pakistan.
6) Oil ministers from India, Iran and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in early August in Tehran to discuss the pricing and ways to build the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) line across rugged terrain and heavily militarized frontiers.
7) The line would supply about 60 million cubic meters (78.5 million cubic yards) of gas a day to India, and up to 30 million cubic meters (39.2 million cubic yards) a day to Pakistan.
8) The other deal, under which India is to buy LNG from Iran, is valued at US$20 billion (euro15.77 billion).
2006-08-04
India, Pakistan, Iran to appoint consultant to resolve gas pipeline pricing dispute
(APW_ENG_20060804.0461)
1) India, Pakistan and Iran have agreed to appoint an independent consultant to resolve a pricing dispute over a natural gas pipeline to span the three countries, officials said Friday.
2) India and Pakistan want to pay less than the price proposed by Iran for the gas, which would be channeled to the subcontinent from Iran via a 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile mile) pipeline.
3) If built, the pipeline is expected to be able to handle 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost around US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) to build, according to current estimates.
4) "The consultant will submit (a) report within one month," India's Petroleum secretary M.S. Srinivasan was quoted as saying Friday by Dow Jones Newswires at the end of trilateral talks on the proposed pipeline.
5) The decision to appoint a consultant was taken after the three countries could not agree on pricing.
6) India and Pakistan, jointly negotiating the gas price with Iran, had earlier rejected a pricing formula offered by Iran.
7) That formula includes 10 percent of the Brent crude price plus US$1.20 (euro0.094) per million British thermal units (MBTU), Dow Jones quoted a senior Indian executive close to the talks as saying Thursday. The executive cannot be named due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.
8) Going by the Iranian formula, the delivered price of Iranian gas would work out at US$8.20 (euro6.4) per MBTU, assuming a 15-day average Brent crude price of US$70 (euro54.7) a barrel, the executive said. New Delhi is seeking delivery of Iranian gas at the India-Pakistan border of US$4.25 (euro3.32) per MBTU.
9) A senior Pakistan government official said Islamabad was also pursuing the pipeline with Tehran on a bilateral basis.
10) Iran's Deputy Oil Minister M.H. Nejad Hosseinian, leading the Iranian delegation, said Iran had already begun construction on the section of the pipeline inside its territory.
11) The project was first proposed by Iran about a decade ago. Iran wants to develop outlets for its large proven natural gas reserves, estimated at 23 trillion cubic meters (812 trillion cubic feet).
12) If the project goes ahead, India could initially buy up to 60 million cubic meters, or mcm, of gas a day from Iran, while Pakistan could buy as much as 30 mcm.
13) If everything goes well, the pipeline could become a reality by 2011, Indian officials say.
14) According to the latest government estimates, India's gas demand is expected to rise to a massive 400 mcm a day by 2025 from the current 150 mcm.
2006-09-29
Pakistan appoints new ambassador to India, Foreign Ministry says
(APW_ENG_20060929.0758)
1) Pakistan on Friday announced the appointment of a new ambassador to its neighboring longtime rival, India.
2) Pakistan's current top envoy to Canada, Shahid Malik, will replace Aziz Ahmed Khan, a Foreign Ministry statement said. No reason was given for the change.
3) Malik, who holds a master's degree in economics, has previously served as a diplomat in India, Japan, the United States and Italy, the statement said.
4) His appointment came days after India announced that its ambassador to Pakistan, Shivshankar Menon, would return to New Delhi to become the Indian Foreign Ministry's top bureaucrat. India has not yet announced a replacement.
5) Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations after fighting three wars -- two over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir -- since their 1947 independence from Britain.
6) The two nuclear-armed countries began a stop-start peace process in 2004, and have taken several steps to improve relations.
7) The peace process stalled following the July train bombings in the Indian city of Mumbai, for which Indian officials blamed Pakistan-based militants. New Delhi has shared no evidence with Islamabad to back its claim, which Pakistan has rejected.
8) However, a breakthrough in relations came this month when Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met in Havana on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement Summit and agreed to revive the peace process.
2006-10-01
India to give Pakistan evidence that Islamabad ' s spy agency behind Mumbai train bombings
(APW_ENG_20061001.0527)
1) India will give Islamabad evidence that Pakistan's spy agency planned the deadly July 11 Mumbai train bombings, India's top diplomat said Sunday.
2) Indian police alleged a day earlier that Pakistan's Directorate of Inter Services Intelligence, or ISI, was behind the bombings that killed more than 200 people in Mumbai, India's economic and entertainment center, formerly called Bombay.
3) Pakistan immediately denied the claims and demanded evidence.
4) The two neighboring countries, both nuclear-armed, are bitter rivals who have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947. They have been engaged in a fitful peace process in recent years.
5) "This (evidence) is something that we will certainly take up with the government of Pakistan," said India's new foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon.
6) "We will judge them (Pakistan) not by their verbal actions, but what they actually do," said Menon, whose previous position was India's ambassador to Pakistan.
7) Meanwhile, India's main Hindu nationalist opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, called on the government to sever ties with Islamabad.
8) Pakistan's ambassador to India "should be immediately summoned and categorically told that India will reconsider continuation of diplomatic relations with Pakistan," BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters.
9) At a news conference Saturday to announce the end of the probe into the bombings, Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said the intensive investigation, which included questioning suspects drugged with "truth serum," revealed Pakistan's role.
10) "The conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan," Roy said. "The terror plot was ISI-sponsored and executed by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba operatives with help from the Students' Islamic Movement of India."
11) Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure, is a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group. The Students' Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, is banned.
12) Roy said 15 people, 11 of them Pakistanis, have so far been arrested in the investigation. Three Indian suspects are still on the run and a Pakistani bomber was killed in the blasts, he said.
13) Roy claimed that Pakistani intelligence agents began planning the attacks in March and later provided funding and training for the bombers in Pakistan's Bahawalpur town, a center of militant Muslim activity.
14) Pakistan dismissed the accusations.
15) "We reject this allegation, and demand that India should provide us any evidence, if they have," Tariq Azim, minister of state for information, told The Associated Press.
16) Top Indian government officials made no immediate comments.
17) The July 11 attack was India's deadliest in years.
18) Seven bombs ripped through a series of suburban commuter trains during the evening rush hour in Mumbai, killing at least 207 people and injuring 700 more.
19) Following the bombings, India called a halt to the often-stumbling two-year-old peace talks with Pakistan. But the talks resumed earlier this month, when India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of an international conference in Cuba. They agreed then to set up a joint anti-terror program.
20) "This will definitely be a test of the resilience of the India-Pakistan relationship," C. Uday Bhaskar, a New Delhi-based strategic affairs expert, said of the bombing probe. However, he said it would probably not push the two countries back to the brink of war.
2006-11-16
Iranian foreign minister likely to discuss nuclear, pipeline issues with Indian leaders
(APW_ENG_20061116.0638)
1) Iran's foreign minister was meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday and their discussions were likely to focus on Teheran's controversial nuclear program and a proposed gas pipeline to India through Pakistan.
2) The meeting comes at a time when the United States and key European countries are working on possible U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
3) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was also to meet Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Thursday and Friday, a government statement said.
4) Indian officials say they do not want Iran to develop nuclear weapons, but at the same time stress that more time was needed for diplomacy to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis.
5) India, which has few domestic sources of fuel, plans to build a 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile) gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan, a project that has raised concerns in Washington. The proposed pipeline was facing another hurdle since India and Pakistan want to pay less than the price proposed by Iran for the gas.
6) If built, the pipeline would be expected to be able to handle 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost around US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) to build, according to current estimates.
7) Mottaki ends his visit to India on Friday.
2006-11-17
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly endorses landmark U.S.-India nuclear cooperation deal
(APW_ENG_20061117.1131)
1) The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly endorsed a plan allowing the United States to ship civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India, handing President George W. Bush an important victory on one of his top foreign policy initiatives. India welcomed the vote, with reservations.
2) Senior lawmakers from both political parties championed the proposal, which reverses decades of U.S. anti-proliferation policy, saying it strengthens a key relationship with a friendly Asian power that has long maintained what the United States considers a responsible nuclear program. Thursday's vote was 85-12.
3) In New Delhi, Indian leaders welcomed the Senate's action but noted that the legislation still has a way to go before becoming U.S. law. They warned that India wants nothing short of the agreement signed July 18, 2005, by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
4) India's external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said he could draw no conclusions on the legislation until he sees the final version.
5) Sonia Gandhi, president of the governing Congress Party, went further. "Nothing will be accepted which is outside the July 18 agreement between the two countries," she said.
6) Republican Sen. Richard Lugar called the plan "a lasting incentive" for India to shun future nuclear weapons tests. Democratic Senator Joseph Biden said the Senate's endorsement pushes America "a giant step closer" to a shift in U.S.-Indian relations that "will increase the prospect for stability and progress in South Asia and in the world at large."
7) Bush, in a statement made during a trip to Singapore, praised the Senate for endorsing his plan, saying it will "bring India into the international nuclear nonproliferation mainstream and will increase the transparency of India's entire civilian nuclear program."
8) His remarks were echoed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Vietnam with the president for a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders. "This really does open up an extraordinary new era, both in U.S.-Indian relations, but also I think for the many interests that will served, from the economic point of view, from an energy point of view and from a nonproliferation point of view," she said.
9) Even with the strong approval by the Senate, however, several hurdles loom before India and the United States could begin civil nuclear trade.
10) First on that list, lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which overwhelmingly endorsed the plan in July, and the Senate must now reconcile their versions into a single bill before the next congressional session begins in January. That bill would then be sent to Bush for his signature.
11) Critics argued that the plan would ruin the world's nonproliferation regime and boost India's nuclear arsenal. The extra civilian nuclear fuel that the deal would provide, they say, could free India's domestic uranium for use in its weapons program. Pakistan and China could respond by increasing their nuclear stockpiles, sparking a regional arms race.
12) Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan called the agreement "a horrible mistake" that "provides a green light" for India to produce more nuclear weapons. "I believe one day we will look back at this with great regret," he said.
13) During debate Thursday, supporters beat back changes they said would have killed the proposal by making it unacceptable to India. Critics said the changes were necessary to guard against nuclear proliferation.
14) Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer unsuccessfully proposed a condition that would have required India to cut off military-to-military ties with Iran before allowing civil nuclear cooperation.
15) Congressman Ed Markey, a Democratic critic in the House, said the Senate's endorsement of the proposal "sends the wrong signal at a time when the world is trying to prevent Iran from getting" a nuclear bomb. The plan, he said, would set "a precedent that other nations can invoke when they seek nuclear cooperation with countries that also refuse to abide by nonproliferation rules."
16) The bill carves out an exemption in American law to allow U.S. civilian nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants; eight military plants would be off-limits.
17) Congressional action is necessary because U.S. law bars nuclear trade with countries that have not submitted to full international inspections. India built its nuclear weapons program outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which provides civil nuclear trade in exchange for a pledge from nations not to pursue nuclear weapons.
18) There are other necessary steps before U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation could begin. An exception for India must be made by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material. Indian officials also must negotiate a safeguard agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
19) And once technical negotiations on an overall cooperation agreement are settled between India and the United States, the U.S. Congress would then hold another vote on the overall deal.
2006-11-18
China ' s president visits rival India to boost ties
(APW_ENG_20061118.0214)
1) Chinese President Hu Jintao was set to travel to India on Monday for an economic summit that brings together leaders of the two rapidly growing economies whose emergence has the potential to shake up the current world order.
2) But more than 18 months after they declared a strategic partnership, relations between China and India remain fraught with difficulty. Intense competition for investment and oil supplies, a decades-old border dispute and China's role as a key ally of and top weapons supplier to India's main strategic rival, Pakistan, continue to cast a long shadow over relations.
3) "The element of competition between the two is quite palpable," said Kripa Sridharan, a South Asian politics expert at the National University of Singapore. But "it is unlikely that their rivalry will turn ugly because that will be detrimental to their broader objective of becoming important global players."
4) Hu, who was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi Monday, is the first Chinese president to visit India in a decade. During his three-day stay, Hu planned to hold talks with Indian President A.P.J. Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visit the cities of Agra and Mumbai.
5) Trying to inject substance into a strategic partnership the two governments declared in early 2005, Hu planned to preside over the signing of a number of agreements.
6) Hu and Indian leaders "will express to the world that the development of China and India not only provides opportunities to the two countries but also makes positive contributions to world peace, stability and development," Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said recently.
7) Bilateral trade, nearly non-existent 20 years ago, has grown rapidly and is projected to rise 10 percent this year to US$20 billion (euro15.66 billion). Last July, the countries reopened a Himalayan border crossing that was closed 44 years earlier, during a border war.
8) Chinese state media recently cited a commerce offical saying that Beijing is considering holding talks with India on creating a free-trade area, but it was not clear if the intention was reciprocated by Delhi. Such a trade area would bring together the world's most populous nations, a total of 2.4 billion people.
9) In a sign of the limits to this budding cooperation, Hu is scheduled to leave India Thursday for Pakistan where he planned to sign agreements on trade, culture and education.
10) State media have said China hopes to sign a deal to supply reactors to Pakistan for six new nuclear power plants, but it isn't clear this deal will be finalized during Hu's visit.
11) There have been missteps on Hu's path to India. New Delhi recently barred the Chinese company Hutchison Port Holdings, a division of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., which is based in Hong Kong, from bidding to participate in a project to build a container port in Mumbai, citing security concerns.
12) China's Ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi reiterated in a TV interview last Monday China's longstanding claim to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, one of the territorial claims the countries fought over in 1962 and have yet to resolve. Sun's comments drew a strong rebuke from the Indian Foreign Ministry.
13) But while China for decades supported Pakistan to try to keep India off-balance, Beijing now has strategic reasons to woo Delhi. Warming relations between India and the United States and potential U.S.-Indian nuclear energy cooperation raise the prospect of an American presence off China's vulnerable southwestern flank.
14) Stronger U.S.-India links have "added a degree of uncertainty for China and it is probably because of this that Beijing is keen to cultivate India more assiduously," Sridharan said.
15) New Delhi is waiting for U.S. lawmakers to approve a U.S.-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal that would allow America to provide atomic fuel and technology to India, which is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
16) Critics have argued that the deal would boost India's nuclear arsenal, freeing up India's domestic uranium supplies for use in its weapons programs. Pakistan and China could respond by increasing their nuclear stockpiles, sparking a regional arms race.
2006-12-20
2006-12-23
Pakistani envoy says US opposition can block Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline
(APW_ENG_20061223.0008)
1) The proposed gas pipeline between Iran, Pakistan and India may never be built if the United States continues to object to the project based on its continuing hostile relationship with Iran, Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani said Friday.
2) In an interview with The Associated Press, Durrani said the project could also be scuttled by a disagreement with Iran over the price Pakistan should pay for the gas. Another potential obstruction has been India's concern about the security of the Pakistani leg of the 2,600-kilometer (1,615 mile) pipeline. Durrani made no reference to this issue.
3) If American objections derail the project, the envoy said, Pakistan would expect the United States to help find other ways of enabling the country to meet its energy needs.
4) He suggested that neither India nor Pakistan would be willing to sacrifice their relationships with the United States for the sake of the pipeline project.
5) The two countries "will be careful because America is an important ally," Durrani said.
6) The pipeline, if constructed, is expected to carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost about US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) to build.
7) The United States regards Iran as the world's principal state sponsor of terrorism and is leading an international campaign to thwart Iran's perceived nuclear weapons ambitions.
8) As for the new agreement that permits U.S. shipments of nuclear fuel to India, Durrani said Pakistan "has some concerns but is not paranoid about it."
9) Pakistan's basic concern is that India will divert all of the nuclear fuel it receives to its weapons program and not to meet energy needs, he said. He expressed regret that the United States has been unwilling to provide Pakistan with the same nuclear fuel deal that India now has.
10) Durrani said there is a certain stability in Pakistan's relationship with New Dehli because as India's deterrence has grown in recent year's, so has Pakistan's.
11) But he acknowledged that if India were given a free hand, it would have the capacity to destroy Pakistan.
12) "If they have enough weapons to destroy us three times over, it doesn't matter," Durrani said. "If I am dead, I am dead."
2007-01-25
Russia, India cement nuclear ties with offer of 4 new nuclear reactors
(APW_ENG_20070125.0958)
1) Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to build four new nuclear reactors for energy starved India on Thursday, as the old Cold War allies sought to reinvigorate their friendship in a new age through energy and military cooperation.
2) Putin, who will be the guest of honor at India's Jan. 26 Republic Day celebrations during his two-day visit, met Thursday with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the two signed a series of deals on energy, scientific and space cooperation.
3) The close ties shared by Moscow and New Delhi during the Cold War -- where Russia was the principle arms supplier to India -- waned after the Soviet Union collapsed and India opened up its markets to the rest of the world. But the two leaders vowed to restore relations to their former level.
4) "Although there has been a sea change in the international situation during the last decade, Russia remains indispensable to India's foreign policy interests," Singh said after their meeting.
5) Singh said energy cooperation was at the center of the new "strategic partnership."
6) A memorandum of understanding on the new nuclear plants was inked by the heads of the Russian and Indian nuclear agencies after the meeting between Putin and Singh.
7) Russia has been eager to reassert its traditional role as the chief supplier of nuclear technology and know-how to India in the wake of a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal between New Delhi and Washington last year that appeared to give U.S. companies a strong position in India's nuclear market.
8) Russia is currently helping India build two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the southern town of Kudankulam and Thursday's understanding said that the four new reactors would be built at Kudankulam and at other sites, but did not outline a timetable or other specifics.
9) Russia has in the past stood by India, supplying it with reactors and fuel even as it was denied Western technology for its refusal to sign the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
10) However, the reactor deal would depend on the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 45-member coalition of countries that regulate the world's atomic trade, lifting its restrictions on India's access to nuclear technology, the two countries said in a joint statement.
11) India was also offered further access to Russia's vast oil resources.
12) India's state owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. signed a deal with Russia' state-controlled OAO Rosneft to jointly bid for exploration and refining projects, ONCG said in a statement.
13) India is already a shareholder via the state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd. in the Sakhalin-1 oilfields, which have started production.
14) Energy cooperation is vital for India, which has struggled to supply adequate power to its burgeoning economy that has been growing at more than 8 percent in recent years. Despite India's rapid recent development, power cuts remain frequent across the country.
15) Signifying the importance India attaches to Russia, Singh broke with protocol to personally welcome Putin and his wife Lyudmila, officials and a delegation of high-profile Russian business leaders at the airport -- an honor previously given only to U.S. President George W. Bush and Saudi King Abdullah.
16) The two countries also signed a series of agreements on scientific, space, aviation and economic cooperation, including giving India access to Russia's satellite navigation system, GLONASS.
17) India and Russia also signaled their intent to forge ahead with military ties with two new arms deals: an agreement allowing the licensed production of Russian aircraft engines in India, and another for the joint development of a military transport plane.
18) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and his Indian counterpart A. K. Antony signed the agreements in New Delhi on Wednesday.
19) "This has been a significant visit both for its symbolism and for its substantive content," said C. Uday Bhaskar of the Institute for Defense and Strategic Analyses, a New Delhi-based think tank. "A resurgent Russia and a more confident India are reiterating their decades-old relationship."
20) The two countries also vowed to step up trade ties that have languished behind other relations.
21) "We hope the high level of political trust should be converted into economic opportunity. We hope to harmonize the political and economic aspects of our relationship," Putin said.
2007-02-05
State media: Iran, Pakistan agree on gas pricing involving proposed pipeline
(APW_ENG_20070205.1283)
1) Iran and Pakistan have agreed on the price of gas that Iran plans to transport to Pakistan and India, state-run media reported Monday.
2) The preliminary agreement on the gas price was announced by Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Mahaneh as Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf held talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran.
3) "Agreement has been reached over the price of gas through the peace pipeline," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Mahaneh as saying.
4) No other details were provided about the deal, including the price of gas that the two countries had agreed upon.
5) The proposal involves transporting the gas through a pipeline that the three countries plan to jointly build.
6) Mahaneh said Pakistan and India also are expected within a month to discuss the pricing formula agreed between Iran and Pakistan. It was not immediately clear if India also would agree to price.
7) Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Musharraf that "Iran is rich in terms of gas resources and ... the Pakistani nation will benefit from Iran's resources."
8) Iran's state-run television also quoted Musharraf as expressing "satisfaction" about the agreement and said Pakistan hoped the construction of the pipeline will begin soon.
9) The pipeline was first proposed by Iran in 1996 but the project has not gotten off the ground mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of the parts of the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile) pipeline would run through Pakistan, its rival for more than half a century.
10) The United States also has objected to the pipeline mainly because of Washington's strained relations with Iran over Tehran's nuclear activities.
11) The pipeline, if constructed, is expected to carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost about US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) to build.
12) Musharraf left Iran for Turkey after meeting top Iranian leaders, the latest in a series of trips to Muslim countries designed to inject new life into peace efforts in the Middle East.
2007-03-21
United States opposes Iranian gas pipeline to India, says U.S. energy secretary
(APW_ENG_20070321.0459)
1) The United States has told the Indian government that it is opposed to plans to build a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday.
2) "During my trip, I have made it clear at the highest levels of the Indian government that the United States opposes the development of the Iranian pipeline to India," Bodman said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
3) If constructed, the 2,600-kilometer (1,620-mile) on-land pipeline is expected to carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost about US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) to build.
4) The project has been delayed because of the U.S. opposition to Iran's nuclear program. Washington also regards Iran as one of the world's principal state sponsors of terrorism.
5) "We believe that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and anything that will support that endeavor is something that we oppose," Bodman said.
6) Indian officials say they do not want Iran to develop nuclear weapons, but at the same time stress that more time is needed for diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis.
7) India and Iran are in the process of discussing the price of gas that would be pumped through the pipeline.
8) With its economy growing at around 9 percent annually, India needs natural gas to meet its burgeoning energy needs.
9) Bodman's three-day official visit to India ends later Wednesday.
2007-04-05
India and Pakistan to press ahead with Iran pipeline despite U.S. opposition
(APW_ENG_20070405.0492)
1) India and Pakistan are pushing ahead with a pipeline that would ship gas from Iran to the South Asian rivals, despite American opposition to the plan, Pakistan's prime minister said Thursday.
2) India and Pakistan have one of Asia's longest-running enmities, but the pipeline linking the two with Iran is shaping up to be a rare issue on which they both agree, and on which both are at odds with the U.S.
3) India and Pakistan face potentially severe energy shortages, and "as our economies are growing very rapidly, we need additional hydrocarbons and energy resources," Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the private NDTV news channel.
4) "Iran is one country which can supply this to us," he said in the interview after he met his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, following a regional summit in New Delhi.
5) Asked about U.S. resistance to the plan, he said: "Our public opinion, our governments, our people want us to pursue our national interests and we will pursue that."
6) Pakistan and India have fought three wars since the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947. But a peace process has in recent years led to a warming of relations, and Aziz said the pipeline would push the nuclear-armed neighbors even closer together.
7) "What we are trying to do is have a linkage between Iran, Pakistan and India, and this will be much more than an energy relationship. We have coined it the peace pipeline," Aziz said.
8) While Washington is a strong supporter of the peace process -- Pakistan is a key ally in its war on terror, and New Delhi is emerging as a strategic partner after decades of Cold War tension -- it fears the pipeline would further strengthen Iran, which the United States accuses of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
9) American diplomats in New Delhi have repeatedly expressed opposition to the pipeline, which would run for 2,600 kilometers (1,620 miles) and carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day.
10) It's price tag -- pegged at US$8 billion (euro6.25 billion) and likely to grow -- and the difficult logistics of building it has led American diplomats to privately scoff at the plan.
11) But with Islamabad, New Delhi and Tehran pressing ahead, American opposition has grown more vocal.
12) "I have made it clear at the highest levels of the Indian government that the United States opposes the development of the Iranian pipeline to India," U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said last month in New Delhi.
2007-04-20
Pakistan prime minister says gas pipeline from Iran critical to stability, economic growth
(APW_ENG_20070420.1178)
1) A pipeline that would supply natural gas from Iran to South Asia, but that is opposed by Washington, is critical to Pakistan's economic growth and political stability, the country's prime minister said Friday.
2) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan is currently negotiating rates for buying and distributing the gas by pipeline with Iran and neighboring India, its long-standing rival, to which the line would extend.
3) Aziz said he believed that despite official objections, the United States was sympathetic to the needs of Pakistan, a key ally in the fight against Islamic terrorists. He said he did not think proceeding with the pipeline would damage those ties.
4) "I think Washington understands that our energy needs are very acute, and energy security is critical to Pakistan's stability and growth, and that's all we are doing," Aziz said in an interview on the sidelines of a regional forum in the southern Chinese resort of Boao.
5) Aziz also said the pipeline could help strengthen rapprochement between India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent upon independence from Britain in 1947.
6) "Pakistan is very committed to this project and we hope India will join in because this would be a peace pipeline," Aziz told The Associated Press.
7) "Whenever you can create situations where you create linkages and interdependencies, it helps to grow the overall atmosphere between the two countries," he said.
8) Washington fears the pipeline would weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it accuses of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program. U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed opposition to the pipeline, which would run for 2,600 kilometers (1,620 miles) and carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day.
9) Aziz said that with economic growth running at about 7 percent annually, Pakistan's energy needs were growing at 10-12 percent a year, far outstripping domestic gas supplies.
10) Citing political stability as the reason, he said foreign investment was set to hit a record US$6 billion (euro4.5 billion) during fiscal 2006-07, while per capita income was set to exceed US$1,000 (euro752) this year.
11) Aziz's comments came on the second-to-last day of a six-day visit to close ally China, whose booming economy Pakistan hopes to tap for investment and markets for its own products.
12) Aziz met top Chinese leaders and the two countries signed 13 agreements to boost cooperation in areas such as space, telecommunications and education, on construction of an automobile plant, and on building an airport in Gwadar, Pakistan, where China has already built a deep-water commercial port.
13) Aziz also visited an aircraft plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu, where Pakistan and China are co-producing the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet.
14) "It's a very holistic, strong relationship," Aziz said.
15) He was set on Saturday to address the weekend Boao Forum for Asia, a meeting of top government officials and business leaders modeled on the World Economic Forum held each year in Davos, Switzerland.
2007-05-01
2007-05-03
U.S. lawmakers ' letter to Indian leader questions New Delhi ' s ties with Iran
(APW_ENG_20070503.1331)
1) Several U.S. lawmakers sympathetic to a U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation plan have sent a letter to India's prime minister expressing strong concern over what they said were India's growing economic and military ties with Iran.
2) Those relations with Iran, they wrote, "have the potential to significantly harm prospects for the establishment of the 'global partnership'" the U.S. and India are seeking.
3) "It is difficult for us to fathom why India, a democracy engaged in its own struggle against terrorism, would want to enhance security cooperation with a repressive government widely regarded as the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism," the letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
4) Among the lawmakers signing the letter were Democratic Reps. Tom Lantos and Howard Berman and Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Ed Royce.
5) Earlier this week, India's foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, came to Washington for talks with U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns about the nuclear deal, which U.S. officials have portrayed as a way to transform a strategic relationship with a rising, democratic power in Asia.
6) The State Department said the countries expect to resolve "outstanding issues" in coming weeks on an overall cooperation plan, and that Burns plans to travel to India this month "to reach a final agreement."
7) Some in India chafe against a nonbinding clause in the agreement directing Bush to determine whether India is cooperating with U.S. efforts to confront Iran's nuclear program.
8) Menon said that nothing India does with Iran is in opposition to international rules.
2007-06-28
India, Pakistan agree on Iran gas pipeline tariff norms, says Pakistan official
(APW_ENG_20070628.1128)
1) India and Pakistan have agreed on principles for calculating the transportation tariffs for natural gas to be supplied through a proposed pipeline from Iran, a Pakistani official said Thursday.
2) "We haven't agreed upon a formula but we have agreed on the principles under which the transportation tariff will be computed," Mukhtar Ahmed, energy adviser to the prime minister of Pakistan, told reporters.
3) Officials from India, Iran and Pakistan are meeting in New Delhi to discuss the proposed US$7 billion (euro5.2 billion) gas pipeline project.
4) Washington opposes the project because it fears it would weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it accuses of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
5) The pipeline would run 2,600 kilometers (1,625 miles) and carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day.
6) "We have made a proposal to India (on transit fees). India has submitted another proposal. We haven't yet reached an agreement, but we don't expect this will be a roadblock," Ahmed said.
7) He said the three countries were weeks away from concluding a final agreement.
8) The proposed project has taken considerable time to get off the ground, mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of portions of the pipeline that will run through Pakistan -- India's rival for more than half a century.
9) India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over control of Kashmir, since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
10) However, they have made several peace initiatives in recent years and are trying to settle the Kashmir dispute through dialogue.
2007-06-29
India, Pakistan, Iran close to agreement on pipeline deal, say Indian officials
(APW_ENG_20070629.0557)
1) India, Pakistan and Iran are close to signing an agreement on transporting natural gas from Iran to the two South Asian countries via a land pipeline by 2011, Indian officials said Friday.
2) The three countries are confident of resolving all issues on the project by next month, India's petroleum secretary M.S. Srinivasan told reporters.
3) "I am very glad we have reached to a great extent an agreement on all the sides," India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora added.
4) The petroleum secretaries of India and Pakistan and the director of the National Iran Oil Company have been meeting in New Delhi since Wednesday to close a deal. A pricing structure is still being discussed.
5) The three countries appear to be going ahead despite U.S. opposition to the US$7 billion (euro5.2 billion) pipeline because Washington fears it would weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it accuses of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
6) The pipeline would run 2,600 kilometers (1,625 miles) from Iran to India through Pakistan and initially carry 60 million cubic meters (2,120 million cubic feet) of gas a day.
7) An Iranian demand for revising the gas price every three years is still to be resolved, India's Srinivasan said. Another issue being discussed is the transit fee that Pakistan will receive for allowing transit of the gas to India, said Waqar Ahmed, Pakistan's petroleum secretary.
8) "We are very close to resolving the entire thing. Next month, the ministers should be able to meet in Islamabad and then in Iran," Srinivasan said.
9) The proposed project has been under discussion for some time, mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of sections of the pipeline that will run through Pakistan -- India's rival for more than half a century.
2007-08-02
2007-08-13
2007-08-20
India, Japan to discuss civilian nuclear cooperation during Prime Minister Abe ' s visit
(APW_ENG_20070820.0569)
1) Leaders of India and Japan will discuss the controversial India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal, a top diplomat said Monday, as India's government faced intense political pressure to put the accord on hold.
2) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was set to start a three-day India visit Tuesday. The two sides were expected to focus on issues from trade and investment to cooperation in energy and environment, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters.
3) "We will naturally discuss the international framework for civilian nuclear cooperation and how it should be changed," Menon said, without elaborating.
4) New Delhi has in the past asked Japan to open the way for cooperation in this area. Earlier this month, Japan said it would proceed carefully on the request while watching the outcome of India's negotiations with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
5) No major agreements were expected from Abe's visit, coming at a time when the two face domestic political pressures.
6) Abe's ruling bloc suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections last month, prompting calls for him to quit.
7) In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has come under attack from the opposition, and from key communist allies, for the nuclear accord with the United States. They say the pact would take away India's right to conduct further nuclear tests.
8) The deal with the U.S. is intended to help India get access to the international market for nuclear fuel and technology. Before it can begin nuclear trade, India must reach an agreement with the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material.
9) On Sunday, the Indian government's communist allies -- whose support is crucial for a parliamentary majority -- demanded the deal be put on hold until their concerns are addressed by the government.
10) Singh has pushed for the civilian nuclear deal with Washington, saying it is crucial to India's future energy needs.
11) During his three-day stay, Abe was scheduled to meet with Singh and other top officials, and to interact with business executives. More than 100 executives are accompanying him on the tour.
12) He will leave for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday.
2007-08-27
Doubts grow over US-India nuclear deal ' s future as opposition grows
(APW_ENG_20070827.0165)
1) The United States gave India nearly everything it wanted in a landmark nuclear energy deal -- but for a vocal chorus of Indian critics, everything may simply not be enough when dealing with America.
2) A wave of opposition has left India's government reeling and raised serious doubts about the deal's future. Critics argue the agreement could undermine India's cherished nuclear weapons program and allow the U.S. to dictate Indian foreign policy.
3) Leading the charge are the communist allies of India's prime minister, and beneath their arguments many here see a deeper objection -- they don't want New Delhi drawn closer to Washington under any circumstances.
4) For both countries, the stakes are enormous.
5) The deal has been repeatedly touted as the foundation of an alliance that could potentially redraw the global balance of power, completing the transformation of a once-hostile relationship between the world's two largest democracies.
6) U.S. policymakers see India as a counterweight to an ever-more powerful China, and the deal reverses three decades of American policy by allowing the shipment of nuclear fuel and technology to India, which never signed international nonproliferation accords and has tested atomic weapons.
7) The two years of painstaking negotiations to reach the deal have also provided U.S. President George W. Bush with a foreign policy achievement amid the Iraq war and other crises.
8) For India, the benefits are arguably greater. Its booming but energy-starved economy would gain access to much-needed nuclear fuel and technologies that it has been long denied by its refusal to sign nonproliferation accords. Even though the deal only covers civilian nuclear power, it tacitly acknowledges India as a nuclear-weapons state, giving its weapons program a degree of international legitimacy -- and adding to India's growing clout.
9) The deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an Aug. 13 speech to Parliament, is "another step in our journey to regain our due place in global councils."
10) But few of the deal's opponents heard his speech that day -- they were too busy shouting him down and disrupting Parliament, as they have done nearly every day since.
11) The opponents run the gamut from right-wing Hindu nationalists to the communists, who are key to Singh's parliamentary majority. The nuclear agreement does not need parliamentary approval, but Singh's government could collapse if his communist allies pull their support because of the deal.
12) Most of their criticism stems from the Hyde Act, passed last year by American lawmakers to allow nuclear trade with India.
13) It contains a nonbinding clause directing the U.S. president to determine whether India is cooperating with American efforts to confront Iran about its nuclear program. That has been seized on by Indian critics as proof that Washington intends to direct New Delhi's foreign policy.
14) The nuclear deal does not address what happens if India tests an atomic weapon -- a sign, American critics say, that New Delhi got too much out of the pact.
15) Indian critics, meanwhile, argue that the lack of an explicit right to test is a sign the U.S. aims to shut down the country's weapons program.
16) But for the communists, their ultimate objection appears simply to be the United States.
17) "We must stand against a strategic partnership with the United States of America," said Basudeb Acharya, a top official of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
18) He called the invasion of Iraq and Washington's efforts to stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons "foreign policy adventures," and said: "We want no part of this."
19) The standoff has the communists warning Singh not to press ahead with the next steps in the deal -- negotiating agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that export nuclear material -- and the prime minister daring them to stop him.
20) But with talk of early elections growing louder, both sides have started to back down. They are expected to announce this week the creation of a committee to examine the deal before pushing ahead with it.
21) Supporters of the deal fear such a committee could delay any movement on the pact -- which still must be approved by U.S. lawmakers -- until it is no longer viable.
22) American officials, who have publicly stayed out of the fray, privately say that with U.S. presidential elections coming up next year, they could only wait so long.
23) Washington acceded to most of New Delhi's demands, giving India the right to stockpile nuclear fuel and reprocess it, a key step in making weapons.
24) Abandoning such a deal would "be a major setback to India's international ambitions," said retired Gen. Ashok Mehta, a strategic analyst in New Delhi.
25) "Long-term, India, without the help of the United States and or any other big power, will take much longer to be counted globally," he said.
26) Mehta and others noted that even as India's political elite squabbles over forging closer ties to the United States, ordinary Indians are building their own.
27) The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi says Indians account for the largest number of work visas to the United States, Indian students make up the largest block of foreigners studying in America, and a survey last year by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found 56 percent of Indians had a favorable view of the United States.
2007-09-10
Explosion at Turkish-Iranian pipeline stops gas supply to Turkey
(APW_ENG_20070910.0638)
1) An explosion at a natural gas pipeline from Iran shut down gas supplies to Turkey, the state-run pipeline company said Monday.
2) The explosion late Sunday near the town of Dogubayazit, close to the border with Iran, damaged the pipeline, forcing authorities to cut the gas flow, a statement from the pipeline company, Botas, said.
3) It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Separatist Kurdish rebels have attacked pipelines close to the border with Iraq and Iran in the past as part of their campaign for autonomy.
4) Repairs to the pipeline were under way, the statement said. Botas did not say when the pipeline would be operational, but said gas supplies to clients would not be affected.
5) Iran is a major supplier of natural gas to Turkey, after Russia.
2007-10-16
India ' s prime minister raises fresh doubts about India-US nuclear accord
(APW_ENG_20071016.0947)
1) India's prime minister has raised fresh doubts about a landmark nuclear energy accord with the United States, telling U.S. President George W. Bush that his government was having trouble finalizing the deal.
2) The pact has been billed as the cornerstone of a new partnership between India and United States after decades of icy relations, and Washington is widely perceived to have made major concessions to make the pact acceptable to New Delhi.
3) Opposition in India has nonetheless mounted in the months since the two sides finalized the deal's technical aspects, with communist parties that are key to the survival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government arguing against closer ties to the United States.
4) The feud had grown increasingly acrimonious in recent weeks and there was widespread speculation about early elections until Friday, when Singh stepped back from the confrontation by saying it was "not the end of life" if the deal didn't go through.
5) The doubts raised by that statement were further magnified late Monday, when Singh told Bush that "certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalization" of the deal, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. Singh, who is on a trip to Africa, spoke to Bush by telephone from Abuja, Nigeria.
6) The deal would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy by allowing the U.S. to send nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has been cut off from the global atomic trade by its refusal to sign nonproliferation treaties and its testing of nuclear weapons. In exchange, India would separate its military and civilian reactors, and place the civilian ones under international inspections.
7) Bush and Singh have sold the deal, first conceived in July 2005, as a way to bring India -- a nuclear weapons state -- into the international atomic mainstream. They've also touted its benefits for India's booming but energy-starved economy, which would gain access to much-needed atomic fuel and technologies.
8) Despite the challenges to the deal in India, U.S. officials have remained publicly upbeat about its prospects, not wanting to further roil India's already turbulent political scene.
9) "We understand that all politics are local," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Tuesday. "India's a thriving democracy. They have work to do, and they may need some additional time on their end to get their part of this deal done. The president is willing and is very understanding that the Indians may need more for this, but no, it's not dead."
10) But U.S. officials say privately that frustration with India is growing, and that with America heading into an election year, India needs to press ahead with the next steps in enacting the deal, which must get a final nod from U.S. lawmakers.
11) It appears increasingly unlikely that Singh is willing -- or even capable -- of doing that.
12) The communists insist that Singh's government not take the next steps in finalizing the deal -- negotiating separate agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that export nuclear material -- until Parliament debates the pact later this year.
13) Assuming Singh then gets to go-ahead to proceed -- far from a sure thing -- that would probably put off a final vote on the accord by American lawmakers until well into next year, if not longer, possibly delaying it to the point where it is no longer viable.
14) The deal faces opposition in the U.S. too, where critics, including some in Congress, say by providing fuel to India, the U.S. would free up India's limited domestic supplies of nuclear material for use in atomic weapons. That, they argue, could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia.
2007-11-03
India watches Pakistan warily but avoids criticism after emergency declared
(APW_ENG_20071103.0862)
1) Indian officials watched warily across their heavily militarized border Saturday night after Pakistan's military ruler declared a state of emergency, with New Delhi urging a return to democracy but carefully avoiding criticism of embattled Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
2) The reaction to Musharraf's moves was notably tempered, a reflection of India's fear of instability in its nuclear-armed neighbor. Clearly, this is not a time when New Delhi wants regional tensions to rise.
3) "We regret the difficult times that Pakistan is passing through," Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said Saturday night. "We trust that conditions of normalcy will soon return, permitting Pakistan's transition to stability and democracy to continue."
4) He said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to assess the situation, but gave no more details.
5) While India and Pakistan remain rivals -- they came to the brink of their fourth war just a few years ago -- relations have improved significantly since they began a peace process in 2004.
6) "For India, a stable and moderate Pakistan is the holy grail and to achieve those objectives. India making an assertive statement (in response to Musharraf's declaration) would not have helped," said Uday Bhaskar, a prominent New Delhi-based defense analyst.
7) It was highly unlikely, he said, that India would put its own forces on alert.
8) "It's the non-state actors who cause concern" to India right now, he said, and not the Pakistani government.
9) While Musharraf apparently declared the state of emergency to head off a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his presidency, he worries about many of those same actors -- from hard-line Islamist politicians to Taliban militants who have growing control in Pakistan's volatile northwest.
10) In fact, New Delhi probably supports the state of emergency, according to a retired Indian general with close ties to the country's military establishment.
11) It comes down to one issue, said Ashok Mehta: control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. If extremist forces were to take power in Islamabad, or the country was to descend into chaos, those nuclear-tipped missiles could lead to a South Asian nightmare.
12) "Forget democracy," said Mehta. "The current establishment in Pakistan has to be supported now by New Delhi because the alternative to not supporting them would be horrendous."
13) Indian officials "may not articulate it in the same manner, for obvious reasons, but they share this view," he said.
14) Enmity has been part of India-Pakistan relations since the two countries were carved from British India at independence in 1947. The "partition" of colonial India cost the lives of over a million people, as Muslims went to the new nation of Pakistan and Hindus to modern India.
15) In 2004, the two countries nearly went to war for a fourth time, after a militant attack on the Indian parliament building that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed militants. Only intensive international pressure -- and, according to many, pressure from India's business community, which feared the effects of regional turmoil on India's increasingly powerful economy -- brought them back from the edge of war.
16) Ties, though, have been improving steadily since November 2003, when India and Pakistan declared a cease-fire in Kashmir, the majority-Muslim divided Himalayan region that is at the heart of their bitterness. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, where dozens of Muslim insurgent groups, which New Delhi claims are supported by Islamabad, are fighting for independence for the region or to unite it with largely Muslim Pakistan.
17) Islamabad denies those claims, insisting they only give moral support to the militants.
18) While little process has been made on Kashmir, in April 2005, Musharraf and Singh declared their peace process to be "irreversible."
2007-11-08
Iran says ties with New Delhi won ' t be affected by India ' s nuclear deal with US
(APW_ENG_20071108.0736)
1) A civil nuclear cooperation deal between India and the United States would not affect New Delhi's relations with Iran, Tehran's interior minister said Thursday.
2) Mostafa Pourmohammadi said India's proposed nuclear agreement with Washington was an "internal issue," adding that Indian officials have "stressed that they do not agree with the unilateralism of America."
3) "We would like to see India maintain its independence like before ... and not be influenced by outside elements," Pourmohammadi told reporters, in a clear reference to Washington.
4) Energy-hungry India is negotiating a proposed US$7 billion (euro5.2 billion) gas pipeline with Iran, which the United States strongly opposes because it claims Tehran is operating a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
5) Relations between Tehran and Washington are extremely tense, with the U.S. also accusing Iran of supporting Shiite militias in Iraq -- a charge Tehran denies.
6) There was no immediate response from India's ministry of external affairs in regard to Pourmohammadi's comments.
7) His two-day visit comes as India and the United States try to finalize the nuclear cooperation program -- though the deal with Washington has become badly stalled in recent weeks.
8) The Iranian minister, who is in New Delhi for a regional conference on disaster management, described overall ties with India as "very deep-rooted and good." He met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday.
9) A civil nuclear cooperation deal between India and the United States would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy. It would allow the U.S. to send nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has been cut off from global atomic trade by its refusal to sign nonproliferation treaties and its testing of nuclear weapons.
10) While it is seen as the cornerstone of a new relationship between India and the U.S., the deal is facing increasing opposition. India's communist parties -- key government allies -- argue it could cap New Delhi's nuclear weapons program and allow Washington to dictate Indian foreign policy, especially toward Iran.
11) Pourmohammadi also dismissed new unilateral sanctions that Washington recently announced it intended to impose against Iran.
12) "We will do our best to ensure that American sanctions are not successful," he said.
13) The U.S. is pushing for a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions to force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb. Two previous sets of U.N. sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to alter its behavior.
2007-11-10
Iran, Pakistan finalize contract for gas pipeline deal
(APW_ENG_20071110.0565)
1) Iran and Pakistan have reached a deal to build a multi-billion-dollar pipeline to transport natural gas between the two countries, Iranian state television reported Saturday.
2) "The text of the Peace Pipeline contract has been finalized. All the points prepared by the legal experts from each side have been restudied and agreed by both sides," the television quoted Iran's deputy minister in charge of the project, Hojatollah Ganimifard, as saying.
3) The pipeline is expected to run 2,600 kilometers (1,625 miles) from Iran to Pakistan and should carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day.
4) A formal signature to seal the contract will be held next month with the two heads of state, TV said.
5) Washington opposes the project because it fears it will weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it accuses of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
6) India was viewed as a potential party to the deal, but has for now stayed away from the contract.
7) The project took considerable time to get off the ground, mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of portions of the pipeline that will run through Pakistan -- India's rival for more than half a century.
2007-11-11
2007-12-31
2008-02-29
Chief US negotiator says India inaction threatens 2008 nuclear agreement decision
(APW_ENG_20080229.0171)
1) The chief U.S. negotiator of a nuclear agreement with India said it will be impossible to complete this year unless India quickly makes a "courageous decision" to endorse it.
2) President George W. Bush, who leaves office next January, considers the pact a major accomplishment of his administration.
3) Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Thursday that a dispute within the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's governing coalition is jeopardizing an agreement that benefits both nations.
4) "I'm afraid it's time for the government to decide. We hope the decision will be positive," said Burns, who is retiring from the State Department next week. "If India is to be given this great victory, which is so clearly in the Indian national interest, there has to be a courageous decision made by the government."
5) India has been shunned by the world's nuclear powers since it conducted its first underground nuclear test in 1976. India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, another reason that has kept the country out of the global civilian nuclear network.
6) Burns headed the U.S. negotiating team that agreed after 2 1/2 years on the final U.S.-Indian document that would give India access to U.S. civilian nuclear technology and fuel. In exchange India would provide safeguards and allow international inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear installations. Eight self-designated military plants would remain off-limits.
7) Congress has given its preliminary approval.
8) India's vote has been barred by a communist party within Singh's coalition that fears the pact would give Washington an ability to meddle with Indian policies.
9) "I think the Indian government is quite sincere in wanting to push this agreement forward," Burns said.
10) He said, however, that "there's obviously a question of politics within the Indian coalition, and we don't want to interfere in internal affairs of the coalition in India."
11) Nevertheless, he said recent American visitors to India, including Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had told their hosts that "time is very short."
12) Even with India's endorsement, the two countries still must obtain an exception for India from the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, countries that export nuclear material. Indian officials also must negotiate a safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
2008-04-14
Musharraf lobbies Beijing to build Iran-Pakistan-China oil and gas pipelines
(APW_ENG_20080414.0467)
1) Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Monday he is lobbying Beijing to build oil and gas pipelines linking his country with China's west as the two longtime allies expand commercial ties.
2) China is sharply increasing oil and gas imports to fuel its booming economy, and Musharraf said he hoped it would see Pakistan as an "energy and trade corridor" to the Middle East.
3) "Pakistan is very much in favor of a pipeline between the Gulf and China through Pakistan and I have been speaking with your leadership, the president and the prime minister, about this," Musharraf told a student audience at Beijing's Tsinghua University.
4) "I'm very sure in the future -- Muslims say, Inshallah -- it will happen," he said.
5) Beijing and Islamabad have been close for decades, united partly by their common distrust of neighboring India.
6) Pakistan abuts China's west but trade was limited for years due to rugged mountain terrain on the border. Commercial ties have grown in recent years. China's dominant mobile phone company bought control of Pakistan's fifth-largest mobile carrier last year.
7) "I believe in a corridor linking Pakistan and China: road linkage, rail linkage, fiber optics, oil and gas," Musharraf said.
8) He acknowledged the challenges of building a pipeline that would have to cross soaring mountain passes up to 15,000 feet (4,500 meters) high.
9) "Technical experts thought it might not be possible at such heights," he said. "But experts say (an) oil and gas pipeline could be pumped upward up to the border, but the larger distance in China would be downflowing. So technically it's very feasible."
10) Musharraf noted that Pakistan is trying to build a pipeline to carry gas from neighboring Iran to India.
11) "We call it IPI pipeline. Why can this not be IPC pipeline -- Iran-Pakistan-China pipeline -- also?" he said.
2008-04-23
Pakistan, Turkmen, Afghan and Indian ministers begin talks on natural gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20080423.0409)
1) South and Central Asian officials opened talks Wednesday on a pipeline to carry natural gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India by way of Afghanistan, a spokesman said.
2) Oil ministers, officials and experts from the four countries will discuss a range of matters relating to the proposed project during the two-day talks in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said.
3) He said officials and experts from Pakistan, Iran and India would also meet later this week in the Pakistani capital to discuss another multibillion dollar gas pipeline -- one opposed by the United States, which is trying to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program.
4) The second project has been delayed in part because of Indian worries about the safety of portions of the pipeline running through Pakistan. Pakistan and India are longtime rivals who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
5) The Afghan-Turkmen pipeline project has been on hold since the 1990s, when the hardline Taliban Islamist movement came into power in Afghanistan. The 1,680-kilometer (1,044-mile) project was revived after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001, although Afghanistan remains mired in violence, especially in its south.
6) Sadiq said Pakistan would ensure the safety of its portion of both pipelines.
7) "These projects are vital for us to meet our fast-growing energy requirements," he told The Associated Press.
India dismisses US advice to pressure Iran to give up nuclear program
(APW_ENG_20080423.0782)
1) India has tartly dismissed American advice that it press Iran to give up its nuclear program, saying it does not need "any guidance on the future conduct" of its foreign relations.
2) Energy-hungry India is negotiating a proposed US$7 billion (euro5.2 billion) gas pipeline with Iran, and the project is expected to top discussions when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes his first visit to the South Asian country next Tuesday.
3) The United States strongly opposes the pipeline from Iran and accuses Tehran of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program and arming Iraqi militants. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.
4) U.S. Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Monday in Washington that New Delhi should press Ahmadinejad to end Iran's alleged nuclear program and aid to Iraqi militants. He also said India should tell the Iranian leader to stop supporting Islamic militant groups in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
5) India made clear Tuesday that it would make its own decisions.
6) "India and Iran are ancient civilizations whose relations span centuries," the Foreign Ministry said in statement.
7) "Both nations are perfectly capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention," it continued. "Neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of bilateral relations."
8) New Delhi and Washington are trying to finalize a landmark nuclear energy cooperation deal that has faced stiff opposition in India from communist political parties, which argue the pact would give the United States too much influence over Indian foreign policy.
9) The critics often cite a non-binding U.S. law that would require the American president to determine if New Delhi was cooperating with efforts to shut down Iran's atomic program.
10) While India-U.S. nuclear cooperation would continue no matter what the president determined, the critics say the law is an attempt to dictate New Delhi's foreign policy.
2008-04-25
Pakistan, India close to finalizing accord on gas pipeline from Iran, official says
(APW_ENG_20080425.0776)
1) Pakistan and India are close to finalizing their part of an agreement to build a pipeline to import natural gas from Iran, a Pakistani Cabinet minister said Friday. Meanwhile, China said it was considering joining the project.
2) The proposed US$7.5 billion pipeline has long been delayed over Indian concerns about the safety of its portions in Pakistan. The U.S. has also opposed the project because of fears it will weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it has accused of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
3) Pakistan's oil minister, Khawaja Mohammed Asif, denied that either Pakistan or India would abandon the project under U.S. pressure.
4) "We are dictated by our own economic needs," Asif said at a news conference as the two South Asian countries concluded the latest talks in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
5) Asif said the two sides mainly discussed issues such as transportation, tariffs and transit fees involved in the project. He said following more consultations on these subjects "the agreement will be concluded" in a few days or weeks.
6) "We have agreed upon the fundamentals of the agreement," he said.
7) Work on the pipeline is expected to begin in 2009 and finish in 2012.
8) Speaking jointly with Asif, Murli Deora, Indian minister for petroleum and natural gas, indicated India still has security concerns about the project.
9) "This project, like all other projects, is predicated and can only be implemented on the basis of commercial viability and on assurance of uninterrupted supply," he said. "It is with these expectations that we approach this project."
10) Also Friday, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters in Islamabad that Beijing was considering joining the project. China is a leading source of investment and arms supplies for Pakistan.
11) "This is a proposal from the Pakistani side, and we are seriously studying the possibility of China participating in it," Jiechi said.
2008-04-28
Iranian president arrives in Pakistan; Afghanistan, gas pipeline discussions expected
(APW_ENG_20080428.0269)
1) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday in Pakistan for a brief visit in which the two countries were expected to discuss Afghanistan and a pipeline project opposed by the United States.
2) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greeted and hugged Pakistani officials after getting off the plane in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. Rifle-toting soldiers flanked a red carpet laid out on the tarmac for the Iranian leader, state television showed.
3) Ahmadinejad is to meet with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani during the hours-long stopover on his way to Sri Lanka.
4) A key subject is expected to be the pipeline, which Pakistan and India are considering building to import natural gas from Iran.
5) The pipeline would run 2,615 kilometers (1,625 miles) from Iran to India through Pakistan and initially carry 60 million cubic meters (2,120 million cubic feet) of gas a day.
6) The proposed project has been hit by delays since Iran proposed it in the 1990s, mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of sections of the pipeline that will run through Pakistan -- India's rival for more than half a century.
7) The U.S. opposes the project because it fears it will weaken efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for power generation.
8) Nuclear-armed Pakistan has said Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear technology. It has called for resolving the Iranian nuclear standoff peacefully, without sanctions.
9) Afghanistan, which neighbors both Iran and Pakistan and is struggling with a Taliban-led insurgency, also is expected to be discussed. Just Sunday, U.S.-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped a militant attack on a military parade that killed three people.
2008-04-29
2008-04-30
Iranian president visits India for talks on energy cooperation
(APW_ENG_20080430.0084)
1) A gas pipeline that would link Iran and India topped the agenda for the first trip by Islamic republic's president to New Delhi despite strong U.S. objections to the project.
2) The trip came as India and the United States are struggling to finalize a landmark nuclear energy deal.
3) But New Delhi has made it clear that it will look to any source to feed its energy hungry economy, and India saw the brief visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a chance kick-start the long-stalled pipeline project.
4) Ahmadinejad arrived Tuesday evening and met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil during his five hours in New Delhi, India's foreign ministry said. His visit was the first by an Iranian leader in five years.
5) The US$7 billion (euro4.5 billion) pipeline needs to run through Pakistan, India's longtime rival, and disagreements between the two over costs, and Indian fears about the pipeline's security have held up the project.
6) However, the South Asian countries are reportedly close to striking a deal on how much New Delhi should pay Islamabad for the fuel shipped through Pakistani territory.
7) That would put the project back on track -- a prospect that clearly dismays Washington, which has repeatedly pressed India to back its efforts to end Iran's nuclear program.
8) The United States last week said India should press Ahmadinejad to end Iran's atomic program and its alleged aid to Iraqi militants. Washington also said India should tell Ahmadinejad to stop supporting Islamic militant groups in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
9) India responded by saying it would decide what -- if anything -- to discuss with Ahmadinejad, tartly telling Washington that it did not need "any guidance on the future conduct" of its foreign affairs.
10) On Tuesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters that India believes engaging with Iran is far more productive than isolating the Islamic republic.
11) "From our point of view, the more engagement there is, the more Iran becomes a factor of stability in the region," he said after meeting Ahmadinejad.
12) Apart from the pipeline, the two sides agreed to try to triple trade from US$10 billion (euro6.4 billion) a year but did not set a timeframe. They also discussed the situation in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
13) India's desire to build on its long-standing ties to Iran highlight New Delhi's eagerness to avoid taking sides in international disputes and work with as many countries as possible -- even if its partners disdain each other.
14) Its willingness to seek energy supplies from both Tehran and Washington is one example of New Delhi's desire to play the middle. Another is its developing relationship with Iran's archenemy Israel. Earlier this year India launched an Israeli spy satellite, which is in part intended to monitor Iran's nuclear program.
15) Shankar said Ahmadinejad did not bring up the satellite during his time in New Delhi.
2008-06-27
Pakistan urges India to act quickly on proposed gas pipeline from Iran
(APW_ENG_20080627.0519)
1) Pakistan pressed India on Friday to move ahead quickly on a proposed US$7 billion gas pipeline from Iran that would serve both India and Pakistan, saying it was desperately needed to help both economies meet their growing energy needs.
2) Despite the mutual benefit, bickering over prices and Indian fears about the pipeline's security as it runs through longtime rival Pakistan have held up progress. The project has also faced intense opposition from the United States.
3) "This is a project that can help us mitigate our problems vis-a-vis energy shortages," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a joint news conference with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi.
4) Qureshi was in India for talks on the ongoing peace-process between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals.
5) Qureshi, who also heads Pakistan's petroleum and natural resources ministry, was scheduled to meet India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora later Friday.
6) "Pakistan is keen to move ahead and I would want to seek his input whether India is ready to fully engage with us or it would like to spend some more time thinking about it," Qureshi said.
7) Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the two sides discussed the issue and he was "hopeful that it will be possible to resolve this issue both from technical, commercial and all (other) aspects."
8) The U.S. opposes the project because it fears it will weaken efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for power generation.
9) India discussed the pipeline project with Iran during a visit to New Delhi in April by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the two sides agreed to try to resolve the issue quickly.
10) The proposed pipeline would run 1,625 miles (2,615 kilometers) from Iran to India through Pakistan and initially carry 2,120 million cubic feet (60 million cubic meters) of gas a day.
2008-07-25
Rice says US-India nuclear deal will reduce spread of pollution, as well as weapons
(APW_ENG_20080725.0060)
1) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a proposed U.S.-India nuclear energy deal is good for both countries and for global efforts to reduce the spread of atomic technology and greenhouse gas emissions.
2) In her first public comments on the agreement since India's government won a confidence vote that paves its way forward, Rice said Thursday the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush would press U.S. lawmakers to approve the agreement in the coming months.
3) "I think we can make a very good case that this is not just a landmark deal but a positive landmark deal," she told reporters aboard her plane as she flew from an Asian security conference in Singapore to Australia.
4) "It's certainly our hope that we can get through all the processes and get this done in the Congress, and we are going to work very expeditiously toward that goal," Rice said.
5) Bush called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and both leaders expressed a desire to see the nuclear issue move forward as quickly as possible, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.
6) The pact would end more than three decades of nuclear isolation for India by opening its civilian reactors to international inspections in exchange for the nuclear fuel and technology. Previously, India had been denied such outside help because of its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and its testing of atomic weapons.
7) But Rice said India has a good record of not spreading its nuclear technology and that safeguards are built into the deal. She added its approval would help India meet its huge demand for energy without using oil, coal and other petroleum products.
8) "India is a country that has tremendously growing demand for energy," she said. "It is a country that, if it tries to meet that demand through carbon-based sources for energy, is going to contribute dramatically to the continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions."
9) India imports about 75 percent of its oil, and Singh has argued the country needs the nuclear deal to power its financial growth and lift hundreds of millions of its 1.1 billion citizens out of poverty.
10) On Tuesday, Singh was forced to call a confidence vote after communist political parties withdrew their support for his government this month to protest the agreement, fearing it would draw India closer to the United States.
11) Though Singh made enemies in his bid to push ahead with the nuclear deal, he had the backing of India's powerful business community and won the vote.
12) In addition to congressional approval, the deal requires India to strike separate agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as the Nuclear Suppliers' Group of countries that export nuclear material.
13) Rice made her comments on a flight to Perth, Australia, with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, a Perth native.
2008-08-18
Turkey: Oil flow to resume to soon
(APW_ENG_20080818.0627)
1) Turkey's energy minister says oil flow in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline through Georgia might resume soon.
2) Hilmi Guler said on Monday -- nearly two weeks after the critical pipeline was shut down due to a fire -- that the pipeline was being fixed and the oil flow could resume "in a few days."
3) Murat Lecompte, a spokesman for pipeline shareholder British Petroleum, says it is too early to say when the pipeline could be operational again.
4) The pipeline carries Azeri oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, for westbound shipments.
5) Kurdish rebels said they sabotaged the pipeline. Turkish officials did not confirm that claim.
2008-09-07
2008-10-02
2008-10-10
Iran backs Pakistan pipeline deal sans India
(APW_ENG_20081010.0481)
1) Iran says it is willing to build a pipeline to export natural gas to Pakistan even if India delays joining the multibillion-dollar project opposed by the U.S.
2) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the offer Friday during a visit to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. Both countries said India would be welcome to join the $7.5 billion project at a later stage.
3) The proposed pipeline would run 1,625 miles (2,615 kilometers) from Iran to India through Pakistan. Pakistan hopes the pipeline will help it meet its growing energy needs.
4) The U.S. fears the project will weaken efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program. India has expressed concerns about the pipeline's safety in Pakistan.
2008-11-25
India, Turkey and Israel to discuss gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20081125.0191)
1) A plan to pipe oil and gas from Turkey to Israel and then ship it to India will be discussed when officials from the three countries meet soon, media reports said Tuesday.
2) The proposal would allow India easier access to energy supplies from Central Asia and the Caspian region, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
3) Erdogan was speaking Monday during a meeting with business leaders in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
4) The proposed route comes after a long-planned pipeline that would have linked India to Iran through Pakistan failed to materialize, held up by disagreements over costs, Indian fears about the pipeline's security, and strong U.S. opposition.
5) Turkey has positioned itself as a regional energy hub for routes bypassing Iran.
6) The planned pipeline would run from the Caspian region to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. From there a pipeline would run to Israel's Eilat port on the Red Sea.
7) Shipping the crude and gas from Eilat would allow Indian tankers to avoid the Suez Canal.
8) Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told the Mint financial paper that Turkey had already conducted a feasibility study for the project and officials would likely meet in Turkey in the next month.
2009-03-23
US diplomat urges India to support Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20090323.0920)
1) A senior U.S. diplomat urged India on Monday to support rival Pakistan as the struggling country works to strengthen its democracy and fight extremists.
2) Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said at the Brookings Institution that India has a "huge stake" in making sure both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are stable. It was the first high-level Obama administration policy speech to focus on India, according to the think tank and the State Department.
3) President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have a chance to meet next week at a world economic summit in London. A central question for the leaders of the two powerful democracies, Steinberg said, will be how they can work together to combat extremism threatening South Asia.
4) Both leaders worry about instability in Pakistan, which borders India and Afghanistan and is facing a growing insurgency, deepening poverty and widespread anger at the government.
5) Tensions have soared between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India since the November terror attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed 164 people. India blames the attack on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
6) The South Asian neighbors have fought three wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
7) The United States and India, Steinberg said, are "joined together" by the memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States and the Mumbai killings.
8) After years of mutual wariness, Indian relations with the United States are at a high point, thanks in large part to the Bush administration's push to allow American civilian nuclear trade with India.
9) India and the United States last year signed an agreement that, for the first time, allows the United States to provide nuclear technology and supplies to India, which had been banned from such trade because of its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Bush and Obama administrations argue that the deal will help strengthen India's nonproliferation efforts; critics say it will spur an arms race in South Asia.
10) Steinberg said India and the United States should build on the good will that the nuclear deal created to strengthen ties.
11) Shyam Saran, India's special envoy for nuclear issues, said in a speech that the nuclear deal will boost business between the countries, despite the global economic crisis.
12) "Energy and defense will remain at the top of our national agenda, and this should encourage the U.S. to look at India as a welcome source of demand for its goods and services, even as the global economy contracts," he said.
2009-05-24
Iran completes gas pipeline deal with Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20090524.0623)
1) Iran's official news agency says the country has completed a major gas pipeline deal with Pakistan that could be extended in the future to take Iranian gas to India.
2) The IRNA news agency says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, watched the signing of the agreement Sunday.
3) The project, known as the Pipeline of Peace, was initially expected to include India, but the country has stayed out of the deal because of concerns about the pipeline's security. India also objected to the transit fees that Pakistan asked for.
4) The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) line will deliver 60 million cubic meters of gas a day to Pakistan. The deal was reach after several years of negotiations.
2009-06-17
India says its ready to talk peace with Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20090617.1031)
1) India's prime minister said Wednesday that his country is again ready to talk peace with Pakistan following a six-month freeze between the nuclear-armed rivals in the wake of last year's terror attack in Mumbai.
2) But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioned that relations between the neighbors remain "under considerable stress" and progress would be slow -- with each step forward dependent on Islamabad's willingness to take on anti-India militants.
3) If Pakistan shows "courage, determination and statesmanship to take the high road to peace, India will meet it more than half the way," Singh told reporters on board his airplane on the way back from a pair of summits in Russia.
4) India's hesitant approach is in marked contrast to Pakistan, which is believed to favor a quick resumption of all talks.
5) The olive branch comes a day after Singh's first meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari since the Mumbai attack, where he said he urged Zardari to take "strong and effective" action to end terrorism against India.
6) The three-day siege in Mumbai, India's financial center, killed 166 people. India has accused a Pakistan-based militant group of sending the teams of gunmen that rampaged through the city, and Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil.
7) India and Pakistan have been adversaries for decades. They have fought three wars, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
8) In 2001, a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament pushed them to the brink of war again, but tensions eventually subsided. They began formal peace talks in 2004, but they were put on hold after the Mumbai attacks.
9) India has accused Pakistani authorities of supporting militants fighting in Kashmir. India, the U.S. and other nations have urged Pakistan to do more to curb Islamic militant groups.
10) The next step toward resuming the peace process will come in July when the foreign secretaries of the two countries meet before the Nonaligned Summit in Cairo, Singh said.
11) After they "discuss what Pakistan is doing and can do to prevent terrorism from Pakistan against India," New Delhi will evaluate the situation and then decide how to move forward, Singh said.
12) India's key demand is that Pakistan prosecute those behind the Mumbai attacks, and any failure by Pakistan could quickly scuttle the nascent peace process.
13) Earlier this month India reacted with anger when a Pakistani court ordered the release of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of the group India blames for the Mumbai siege.
14) Farah Isphahani, a spokeswoman for Zardari, said Tuesday's meeting was "an important first step towards reopening formal dialogue."
15) Mehdi Hasan, a political analyst in Islamabad, said that from a Pakistani point of view "the resumption of the dialogue process between Pakistan and India should be 'the sooner the better.'"
16) Indian analysts believe Pakistan wants to return to full peace talks to allow it to turn its attention to mounting internal instability and to improve its global image.
17) "Pakistan is increasingly isolated and it's important for it to be seen to be talking to India on the issue of terrorism," said Lalit Mansingh, India's former ambassador to the United States.
18) Singh and Zardari met briefly Tuesday in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Russia. The two nations have observer status in the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which wrapped up a two-day summit Tuesday in Yekaterinburg. Singh also was taking part in a summit of the BRIC group linking Brazil, Russia, India and China.
19) The Indian media welcomed the meeting as the first sign of a cross-border thaw, with the Times of India newspaper saying it "signaled an important step -- the India-Pakistan chill is now officially over."
2009-11-24
Obama to honor Indian PM with state visit
(APW_ENG_20091124.0198)
1) Behind the elaborate ceremony of the Indian prime minister's state visit Tuesday, Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama will be working to smooth over differences on climate change and U.S. ties with Indian rivals China and Pakistan.
2) The White House is eager to show that, despite what some Indians see as a lack of attention during Obama's first 10 months, it values Singh's country as a key partner in dealing with extremists in South Asia, in settling international trade and global warming pacts and in steering the world economy out of turmoil.
3) Indians will be looking for Obama to reverse a perception that he neglected India during his recent trip to Asia and seemed to endorse a stronger role for China in India's sensitive dealings with Pakistan.
4) Singh, in comments Monday, expressed optimism about the future of the U.S.-Indian relationship, calling for a "strategic partnership of global dimensions."
5) The White House acknowledges that the state visit is meant to signal to India the value the administration places on the growing economic and political power. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Singh's visit is "a show of respect."
6) Obama wants to re-establish the strong feelings of goodwill the countries enjoyed during George W. Bush's presidency. Bush is credited with transforming the relationship after decades of Cold War-era distrust.
7) The symbol of those new ties is a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation accord signed into law last year after years of close communication and tough negotiation among senior Indian and U.S. officials.
8) As Obama and Singh meet, a major topic will be Pakistan, India's bitter rival and a country the United States relies on in the fight against extremists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
9) Singh on Monday urged Islamabad to deal with those who planned last year's Mumbai terrorist attacks, which left 166 people dead a year ago.
10) Pakistan "should be pressurized by the world community to do much more to bring to book all those people who are responsible for this horrible crime," Singh said. "The trauma of the attack continues to haunt us."
11) In an attempt to ease another source of tension, Singh also said Indian and U.S. officials will sign a memorandum Tuesday intended to improve cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change. He did not provide details.
12) Developing and industrialized countries have bickered as they prepare to negotiate a new global climate change treaty at a December summit in Copenhagen, meant to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on carbon dioxide emissions.
13) Developing countries argue that rich countries produced most of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases on their march to development and should therefore bear the costs of fixing the problem. Wealthy nations say all countries -- including large polluters India and China -- have to agree to broad cuts in emissions.
14) India is willing to work on any climate solution that does not hurt developing countries' efforts to lift their populations out of poverty, Singh said.
15) Also lingering as Obama and Singh meet will be a nervousness in India about increasing U.S. reliance on Asia's other huge power, China, to tackle global crises.
16) Some saw a joint statement last week by Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao that mentioned India-Pakistan ties as a hint that Obama wants Beijing more involved in South Asian diplomacy. The Indian Foreign Ministry firmly shot down the idea of a "third country" role in India-Pakistan affairs.
2010-01-19
Gates: US seeks stability between India, Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20100119.0535)
1) The United States would like to help India and Pakistan focus less on each other and more on the terrorism threat, but the two countries prefer to settle their differences themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
2) "We're always interested in that," Gates said as he flew to New Delhi for talks Tuesday and Wednesday with India's prime minister, defense chief and other officials. "Regional stability is very important for everybody involved. I think it's clear that both sides prefer to deal with this bilaterally."
3) Mutual suspicion drives heavy defense spending and large standing armies for both countries. But Gates said India and Pakistan have demonstrated admirable restraint since the three-day terror attack more than a year ago in Mumbai, India.
4) India immediately blamed terror groups in Pakistan, and Pakistan has charged seven men. The siege of the financial center killed 166 people and set back efforts by India and Pakistan to resolve a deal over disputed Kashmir.
5) India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over control of the Himalayan region since their partition, when British colonial rule ended in 1947. A dozen Kashmiri insurgent groups, which seek either independence or merger with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.
6) In December, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony said India has withdrawn 30,000 soldiers from Kashmir as rebel attacks decreased over the past two years, but hundreds of thousands of soldiers are believed to remain. Rebel violence broke out anew this month.
7) On Tuesday, the Pakistani military said Indian troops fired across the border running through Kashmir, killing one Pakistani soldier and wounding another. The Indian military said its troops fired in self-defense after coming under attack from Pakistani soldiers, the second such reported incident in as many days.
8) India and Pakistan control parts of Kashmir and both claim the whole region. The two countries began talks in 2004 to find a solution to the dispute, but New Delhi suspended them after the Mumbai attacks.
9) Still, Gates told reporters traveling with him, "Even within the framework of that attack and the suspicions that it created, the two sides have managed to keep the tensions between them at a manageable level."
10) In an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Times of India, Gates called terrorism "perhaps the greatest common challenge India and the United States face."
11) Gates said he will encourage the Indian officials to expand defense, information-sharing and logistical agreements with Washington. India is spending billions annually on U.S.-made hardware, although Gates said current agreements prevent India from being able to buy some U.S. weaponry or technology.
12) Gates' visit is the first high-level contact between the United States and India since Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was honored with the Obama administration's first full state visit and dinner in November. The honor has been overshadowed in the United States by embarrassing lapses in presidential security that apparently allowed three people without invitations to attend the dinner. But in India, the state visit was generally seen as a mark of respect and a sign that President Barack Obama wants a better relationship with the world's largest democracy.
13) The Obama overture built on efforts by the Bush administration to negotiate a hard-fought nuclear cooperation agreement. The 2008 nuclear accord permits U.S. businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India and reversed a three-decade ban on atomic trade with the fast-growing, nuclear-armed power.
14) The agreement was the result of three years of often frustrating political and diplomatic wrangling and marked a major shift in U.S. policy toward India after decades of mutual wariness. India had faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974 and has refused to sign nonproliferation accords.
2010-06-01
US works to settle Indian anxiety over ties
(APW_ENG_20100601.0027)
1) Terrorism and climate change will top discussions at high-level U.S.-Indian meetings this week. But the real diplomatic test will be whether the United States can ease India's hurt feelings.
2) Nearly a year and a half into Barack Obama's presidency, Indians still worry that their country is taking a back seat to rivals China and Pakistan in U.S. foreign policy priorities.
3) The United States cares about New Delhi's feelings of inadequacy because India is an important player in many of the global issues the United States wants solved. The nuclear-armed country is seen as crucial to the U.S.-led fight against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as a counterweight to powerful China and as a big part of efforts to settle world trade and climate change deals.
4) And so, in the latest in a string of attempts to show India it cares, the Obama administration will host the inaugural U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue from Tuesday through Friday. If India's skeptical reaction after past meetings with U.S. officials is any gauge, U.S. diplomats will have their work cut out for them.
5) Even before his inauguration, Obama faced big expectations in India, where his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, was celebrated for overseeing the transformation of what had long been a tense relationship. Bush shepherded a landmark accord to share civilian nuclear energy with formerly shunned India, making it the cornerstone of a new strategic relationship.
6) Without a high-profile initiative for Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pursue, however, and with difficult economic and domestic issues consuming both governments, a malaise has set in, and Indians have raised alarms that their country's profile has slipped.
7) Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States, said that even with all the countries' links, "this doubt still persists as to whether the Americans are taking India seriously as a global player."
8) India's powerful economy, vibrant democracy and political, cultural and historical importance in South Asia make it a natural partner for the United States, something Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will likely try to hammer home when she hosts Indian Foreign Minister Sri S. M. Krishna and other senior officials at the State Department.
9) Obama signaled India's importance when he welcomed Singh in November to the White House in the first state visit of his presidency. Clinton visited India in July. Obama is planning a trip later this year, and on Friday he called Singh to preview this week's meetings.
10) Ashley J. Tellis, who advised the Bush administration on the nuclear deal with India, said that this week's talks are a chance to make a "dent in this veil of pessimism that seems to have descended on the bilateral relationship, especially in India."
11) Still, despite the cooperation, meetings and visits, India wants more from Washington, including stronger U.S. pressure on Pakistan to fight terrorists.
12) A possible sticking point this week could be the case of David Coleman Headley, an American citizen who has pleaded guilty to scouting Mumbai before the deadly November 2008 terrorist attacks that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants.
13) Robert Blake, the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia, said Friday the countries are cooperating but wouldn't discuss whether the United States would allow Indian investigators to interview Headley.
14) As part of Headley's plea bargain agreement, the United States agreed not to extradite him to India or Pakistan for the charges for which he has admitted guilt.
2010-06-03
India asks for access to American
(APW_ENG_20100603.1194)
1) India made a push Thursday to interview an American citizen linked to the deadly 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, adding a note of tension to high-level talks with the United States.
2) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not publicly respond to the request by Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna. She said this week's inaugural U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue is a chance to address doubts in both countries that are hindering what she calls a crucial global relationship.
3) A major part of the talks dealt with extremists in Pakistan, both those fighting U.S. troops from havens along the Afghan-Pakistan border and those that India blames for the attacks on its financial capital that left 166 people dead.
4) Without mentioning the name of the American, Krishna told Clinton during the dialogue's televised opening ceremonies that giving India access to people the United States apprehended in connection with Mumbai "is perhaps the logical next step."
5) Neither the State Department nor the Justice Department would comment on whether the United States would let India interview the American, David Coleman Headley, who has pleaded guilty to scouting Mumbai before the attacks.
6) The matter could be a sticking point in talks meant to ease Indian fears that relations with the United States have slipped since the Bush administration pushed through a landmark 2008 accord to establish civilian nuclear trade with formerly shunned India. That deal transformed ties after decades of mistrust, but New Delhi has since watched with wariness as Washington has forged deeper bonds with India's neighboring rivals, China and Pakistan.
7) To reinforce the U.S. message of reassurance, President Barack Obama planned to visit the State Department later Thursday to speak at a reception for the assembled Indian and U.S. officials. Thursday's sessions were the highlight of the four-day dialogue.
8) Clinton said that U.S.-Indian ties are at a pivotal moment and that the trust built this week should lead to results when officials meet next year in New Delhi for the second round of talks.
9) "India's rise is a defining story line of the early 21st century, and the U.S.-India partnership will help shape the rest of this century," Clinton said.
10) She called India "an indispensable partner and a trusted friend" and said "a rising India is good for the United States and good for the world."
11) But the countries must "directly and candidly" address lingering doubts: "Doubts among some Indians that the United States only sees India, or mainly sees India, in the context of Afghanistan and Pakistan," Clinton said. "Doubts in America that India has not fully embraced its role in regional or global affairs."
12) Clinton, appearing at a news conference with Krishna after morning meetings, deflected a question about another sore point in New Delhi: The Obama administration's reluctance to support India's push to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. She said only that the United States was "very committed to considering India" for membership.
13) This week's meetings saw a small army of high-level Indian and U.S. officials trying to spark deeper cooperation on an already long list of areas in which the countries are working together.
14) U.S. officials say they have a deep strategic interest in nurturing India's emergence as a global power and want Indian help on the war in Afghanistan and climate change, education, poverty, counterterrorism, energy, agricultural and trade initiatives.
15) Last year, Obama signaled the importance of ties by giving Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh an elaborate formal welcome to the White House, and a third of his Cabinet has visited India since he took office almost a year and a half ago; Obama also plans to visit India himself this year.
16) Despite the high-level visits and near-constant diplomatic contact, however, Indians have often expressed nostalgia for former President George W. Bush, who shepherded the nuclear deal into law and made it the cornerstone of a new strategic relationship.
2010-06-13
Iran finalizes deal to build gas pipe to Pakistan
(APW_ENG_20100613.0256)
1) Iran's state TV says the country has finalized a deal to build a pipeline to Pakistan capable of exporting 21.5 million cubic meters per day.
2) The Sunday report said exports will begin in 2014 after the 730 mile (1,200 kilometer) pipeline is finished on the Iranian side. A state radio report report added that the project will cost $7 billion.
3) The project, known as the Pipeline of Peace, was initially expected to include India, but the country stayed out of the deal over security of the pipeline and price of transit through Pakistan.
4) The ratification comes after the U.N. Security Council approved a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran on Wednesday.
5) The West fears Iran's nuclear program is for developing weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
2010-08-15
India prime minister appeals to Kashmir protesters
(APW_ENG_20100815.0229)
1) India's prime minister appealed Sunday to the people of Indian-controlled Kashmir to end violent protests and said his government is ready to hold talks to resolve their long-standing problems.
2) "The years of violence should now end. Such violence will not benefit anyone," Manmohan Singh said in a speech marking India's Independence Day.
3) "We are ready to talk to every person or group which abjures violence."
4) Indian-administered Kashmir has been rocked by near-daily protests and clashes with security forces, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people over the last two months. The protesters have set official buildings and vehicles ablaze and government forces have used guns and tear gas in an effort to contain the unrest.
5) Singh insisted that "Kashmir is an integral part of India," adding that "within this framework, we are ready to move forward in any talks."
6) Sunday was a rare quiet day in Kashmir, largely because of a strict curfew clamped on most major towns. However, minor protests were reported in some places.
7) At an Independence Day ceremony in Srinagar, the main city, a policeman in the audience in civilian clothes hurled a shoe at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the region's top elected official, and shouted "We want freedom." The shoe missed its target, and Abdullah continued his speech after a pause. Authorities later said the policemen had been suspended from work in May and described him as mentally unstable.
8) Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the portion of Kashmir it controls, with most people favoring independence from India or a merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.
9) Singh said he had embarked on a new round of talks with political leaders from Kashmir last week and he wanted to take the process forward.
10) "India's democracy has the generosity and flexibility to be able to address the concerns of any area or group in the country," he said.
11) In his 30-minute speech delivered from a bulletproof glass booth on the ramparts of a 17th-century fort in New Delhi, Singh referred to a host of other problems besetting India, including growing attacks by Maoist rebels and the need to speed up development programs for millions of Indians still mired in poverty.
12) Singh also appealed to Maoist rebels, saying they should work with the government to speed up lagging economic development of rural areas, the main cause of the rebels' discontent.
13) Inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the rebels have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains. They now have a presence in 20 of India's 28 states.
14) Singh has often called the rebels the country's greatest internal security threat.
15) Referring to relations with neighboring Pakistan, Singh insisted that Islamabad has to root out terrorist groups operating in its territory before peace talks between the nuclear-armed rivals can make any meaningful progress.
16) "If this is not done, we cannot progress far in our dialogue with Pakistan," he said.
17) Peace talks between India and Pakistan were stalled after a 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, India's financial hub, that killed 166 people. New Delhi blamed the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group Pakistan helped establish about 20 years ago to pressure India over Kashmir. Pakistan's government banned the group in 2002 following U.S. pressure, but many analysts believe it still maintains links.
18) The U.S. is eager for Pakistan and India to resolve their differences, in large part because it would free Pakistan to focus on the growing militancy along its border with Afghanistan.
19) In July the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad in an effort to resume the dialogue that was in progress before the Mumbai attack.
2010-09-15
US agency seeks tougher pipeline oversight
(APW_ENG_20100915.0760)
1) The Obama administration wants Congress to tighten oversight U.S pipelines and more than double penalties for some safety violations in response to a deadly gas explosion in California and a major oil spill in Michigan.
2) Legislation sent to Congress Wednesday would increase from $1 million to $2.5 million the maximum fine for the most serious pipeline violations involving deaths, injuries or major environmental harm, the Department of Transportation said. It also would pay for an additional 40 inspectors and safety regulators over the next four years.
3) The proposal follows several accidents, including last week's huge gas explosion in suburban San Francisco, that have called attention to the nation's aging pipelines and how they are monitored. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his department "needs stronger authority to ensure the continued safety and reliability of our nation's pipeline network."
4) Congress is expected to recess for November elections in the next 2-3 weeks, making it unlikely a bill can be enacted within the next two months. Rep. James Oberstar, a Democrat and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which was holding a hearing Wednesday on the Michigan oil spill, said he wants to "scrub" the proposal with the help of administration officials and lawmakers from both parties before the recess so that a bill can at least clear the pipeline subcommittee by then.
5) "I do think there is urgency," Oberstar said.
6) The department's proposal would eliminate exemptions from safety regulations for pipelines that gather hazardous liquids upstream of transmission pipelines, the department said.
7) It also would authorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates interstate pipeline safety, to collect additional data on pipelines, including information on previously unregulated lines, the department said. And, it would provide for improved coordination with states and other agencies on inspector training and oversight of pipeline construction and expansion projects involving both gas and hazardous liquids pipelines.
8) The safety administration is part of the Transportation Department.
9) Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari told committee the department is also crafting new regulations to enhance pipeline safety, including requiring the installation of emergency flow restricting devices on some pipelines and changing the distance between valves. The regulations would be separate from the legislative proposal.
10) The department is also considering extending "high consequence area" designations to additional stretches of pipeline, Porcari told the committee in prepared testimony. Regulations put in place after several gas pipeline accidents a decade ago require oil and gas companies to inspect the integrity of pipelines in densely populated areas. Those inspections, which are conducted by the companies themselves, began in 2002 and are supposed to be completed by 2012.
11) The Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gas pipeline explosion killed at least four people in San Bruno, California, and destroyed nearly 40 homes. That pipeline is regulated by the state utility commission.
12) An oil spill from a pipeline owned by a Canadian company in Michigan sent an estimated 820,000 to 1 million gallons (3.1 to 3.8 million liters) spewing into the Kalamazoo River in late July.
13) Another spill from a pipeline by the same company, Enbridge Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, was reported within the last week in suburban Chicago.
14) The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accidents. Sections of pipeline from each accident have been transported to the board's facilities in an effort to determine the cause of the ruptures, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman told the committee.
15) She noted that California pipeline dates back to 1968 and the Michigan pipeline to 1956.
16) Some Republican committee members criticized the department for not submitting legislation to extend authority for the pipeline administration's operations, due to expire on Sept. 30.
2010-09-17
Enbridge restarts Chicago-area pipeline
(APW_ENG_20100917.0696)
1) Enbridge Inc. says it has restarted a pipeline that spilled oil in the Chicago area last week.
2) The U.S. affiliate of the Calgary-based pipeline giant said Friday the pipeline is now back in service.
3) A leak was discovered last Thursday on the line that carries crude from Wisconsin to Indiana. It is part of the same network as another Enbridge pipeline in Michigan that ruptured in July.
4) The two pipeline closures have made it difficult for Canadian oil-sands producers to get their product to their biggest market, the United States.
5) The Michigan pipeline remains closed.
2010-11-18
US backs trans-Afghanistan natural gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20101118.0500)
1) The United States says it supports a planned pipeline taking natural gas from Turkmenistan to India through volatile regions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2) U.S. deputy Assistant Secretary of State Susan Elliott said Thursday that the pipeline could boost stability across the war-torn region. She spoke at an energy conference in the capital of this Central Asian country, Ashgabat.
3) Observers have questioned the feasibility of building a supply route that would pass through insurgency-wracked areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
4) The U.S. is believed to be opposed to energy-hungry India and Pakistan drawing supplies from Iran via a proposed $7 billion gas pipeline, which could come online by 2015.
2010-12-11
Agreement sought on Afghan-Pakistan gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20101211.0184)
1) The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the capital of gas-rich Turkmenistan to try to take a step forward on ambitions to build a pipeline across their countries.
2) The pipeline, which would terminate in India, would bring huge amounts of gas to underdeveloped regions and could earn impoverished Afghanistan hundreds of millions of dollars in transit fees. But it would cross both Taliban-intensive stretches of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan's unruly tribal areas.
3) The leaders, along with Turkmenistan's president and India's oil minister are expected to sign a document expressing support for the project. The next step would likely be to seek proposals and bids from energy companies.
Agreement reached on Afghan-Pakistan gas pipeline
(APW_ENG_20101211.0267)
1) The leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan on Saturday agreed to move forward with a complicated and risky plan to build a natural gas pipeline across rugged territory plagued by war and terrorism.
2) The pipeline, which would terminate in India, would bring huge amounts of gas to underdeveloped regions and could earn impoverished Afghanistan hundreds of millions of dollars in transit fees.
3) The route for the 1,700-kilometer (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline from gas-rich Turkmenistan would cross Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, where the Taliban and international forces are locked in battle, as well as some of Pakistan's unruly tribal areas. Concerns about security for the pipeline itself and for the workers who construct it have cast doubt on the project's near-term feasibility, but proponents say it would calm the chaotic region.
4) "Along with commercial and economic benefits, this project will also yield a stabilizing influence on the region and beyond" Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said after the leaders signed a document supporting the project.
5) "Afghanistan will live up to its obligations in ensuring the pipeline's construction and safety," said Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose undertrained army struggles against the resurgent Taliban.
6) The project has also won vocal support from the United States, which is strongly opposed to India and Pakistan drawing supplies from Iran through another proposed gas pipeline.
7) Contents of the document signed by Karzai, Berdymukhamedov, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian petroleum minister Murli Deora were not immediately made public.
8) But the apparent next step will be to secure financial backing and firm bids from energy companies, which could prove an uphill struggle for a project so fraught with potential risks.
9) "This will not be an easy project to complete -- it is mandatory that we guarantee the security of the pipeline and the quality of construction work," Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat.
10) Kuroda said his bank would offer its backing to the pipeline, but gave no specific details on how it would do so.
11) Turkmenistan, which is believed to hold the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, is eager to find new markets for its potentially gargantuan energy exports amid flagging interest from Russia, its traditional client.
12) Plans to build a pipeline transporting the former Soviet nation's gas to Western Europe to date remain hazy ambitions.
13) Berdymukhamedov said the pipeline would deliver up to 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually, welcome relief for energy-parched nations along the route.
14) According to a preliminary breakdown, India and Pakistan would each get about 42 percent of the gas and Afghanistan the remainder.
15) Attempts to build a pipeline through Afghanistan date back to the mid-1990s, when the U.S.-led consortium Unocal was locked in fierce competition with Argentina's Bridas to win a deal to construct and run the route.
16) But as the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan, those ambitions were shelved and remained so during the next decade's war.
17) Turkmen officials estimate that construction of the pipeline could generate around 12,000 jobs in Afghanistan and earn it several hundred millions dollars annually in transit fees.
18) Turkmenistan has sought to broaden its client base after Russia sharply cut back its imports from the Central Asian nation.
19) A 1,800-kilometer (1,080-mile) pipeline to China began pumping natural gas late last year.
20) The scale of those commitments have elicited doubt among some energy experts that Turkmenistan will be able to fill the TAPI pipeline.
21) Berdymukhamedov insisted Saturday that recent surveys by Turkmen specialists at the vast South Yolotan field, from which much of the gas is expected to be drawn, appear to suggest reserves may be even larger than previously believed.
22) An independent British auditing company reported in 2008 that the field may hold up to 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, but Berdymukhamedov said the figure may be closer to 22 trillion cubic meters.