| 10 March 2005 | Thursday | 28 Muharram 1426 |
Ties with Central Asia
KCR's reopening
Reports that the Indian government has accepted Pakistan's proposal for an energy corridor through which a pipeline will be laid are welcome. The establishment of such a corridor, which would run from Iran to India through Pakistan, will possibly be the most significant confidence-building measure undertaken to normalize relations between the two countries.
Till now, tensions between India and Pakistan have clouded prospects of such a project despite the considerable economic benefits it promises to both countries. Most of India's concerns relate to security and the guarantee that gas supply will not be disrupted if India-Pakistan relations sour in the coming years.
Keeping in mind past experience, this is a genuine worry and needs to be allayed by Pakistan as well as Iran. Pakistan stands to gain financially through transit fees for gas that is supplied to India.
For this to happen, however, the government needs to tackle the problems that have cropped up in Balochistan in the past few months as nationalist forces in that province may object to any venture in which their share is not included.
The project promises great potential for all the countries involved. For Iran, which has been under American economic sanctions in one form or another since 1979, the export of gas will earn the country much needed foreign exchange.
For Pakistan, the import of natural gas through this pipeline which is expected to be operational by the end of the decade will tie in with the drop in domestic gas production.
Studies suggest that Pakistan's gas shortfall will start from 400 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcfgd) in 2010 and will increase to four billion cubic feet per day by 2025, as the economy grows at the rate of over seven per cent annually. For India, this will mean a cheaper alternative to its expensive fuel imports to run industries in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat states.
With limitless possibilities, the idea of cooperation in the energy sector should be taken up on a priority basis. Such an undertaking will go a long way in promoting regional cooperation.
For Pakistan, with the opening up of the Gwadar port and growing economic links with Central Asia through Afghanistan, the energy corridor will be a major example of how countries in the region can benefit from enhanced economic cooperation.
Under the umbrella of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, the idea of setting up an energy grid in the region is most promising. At the same time, the project is in line with the vision of the Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECO) of which both Iran and Pakistan are members.
The ECO has been promoting the idea of member states sourcing their energy needs from each other. The Iran-Pakistan-India corridor is a major step in that direction. The challenge now would be for all the pieces to fall into place so that work can start at the earliest.
For this to happen, all the three countries involved will have to back their words with actions in the next couple of months. In this regard, one hopes that the visits to Islamabad in the coming weeks of both the Indian and Iranian petroleum ministers will finalize the details of the undertaking and that this long awaited project will finally get off the ground.
Ties with Central Asia
Pakistan's relations with Central Asian republics have not developed the way one would have expected them to. Having so much in common - religious and cultural ties and geographical proximity - Pakistan and the CARs should have moved forward with speed toward friendship and economic cooperation during the post-Soviet era.
However, practical difficulties stand in the way, the biggest one being the lack of contact among the people. Means of communications are backward and obtaining a visa is a problem.
All CARs are autocracies, and the free movement of people that is characteristic of democracies is obviously missing. The situation has been worsened by the menace of terrorism. At least three CARs - Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan - face terrorist threats, and unfortunately some of those involved have been operating from Pakistan.
President Pervez Musharraf referred to this phenomenon during his press conference in Tashkent and declared that Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used for terrorism against any country. For Uzbekistan, these assurances were necessary, because last year a series of suicide attacks left at least 50 people dead.
Pakistan, too, has suffered at the hands of Uzbek terrorists, some of whom were arrested or killed during the Wana operations. The decision to have an extradition treaty should help Uzbekistan and Pakistan extradite wanted terrorists.
The other country the president visited during his tour was Kyrgyzstan, where the emphasis was more on trade and economic relations. Pakistan is keen to get power from electricity-surplus Kyrgyzstan, which also seeks access to Gwadar for its exports.
For the landlocked CARs, Pakistani ports are the nearest access to the sea, and this provides a solid basis for Islamabad to build a closer economic relationship on. What is unfortunate, however, is the absence of easy travel between Pakistan and the CARs.
An agreement signed during the president's visit to Bishkek related to easing visa formalities for diplomats and officials. Why cannot visa issuance be liberalized for tourists, traders, intellectuals and media people as well? Their relationship will be on a firmer footing and not dependent on transient policies if the two governments concentrate on encouraging contacts between the citizens of their countries.
KCR's reopening
After numerous delays and postponements, the Karachi Circular Railways was inaugurated by the prime minister on Tuesday. The much-awaited revival of the KCR, however, needs to be examined, particularly since Karachi is plagued with a severe mobility problem.
For a start, there is no revival aspect to the route that was formally inaugurated on Tuesday. It run 10 trains, up and down, from the City Station to Landhi - so it leaves a majority of the city's commuters out of the loop.
The straight-line route also shows that there is nothing circular about it so far; the service is running on railway tracks that were laid by the British over 100 years ago. It will take some time before the entire circle covering most of the city is completed.
This includes rehabilitation of the loop and the doubling of the tracks. The prime minister dismissed the criticism about partial revival saying that "no one is saying that we will stop our feet after taking the first step" and that his government was committed to providing Karachi with an integrated mass transit system.
The provincial minister for transport said at a press conference earlier last week that he believed 10,000 people on average would benefit from the KCR service on a daily basis.
In a city of around 14 million people, having only 10,000 beneficiaries is rather disappointing. In order to address the long-term goal of providing Karachites with a mass transit system, it is important for the KCR to complete its remaining two phases in as short a time as possible.
There is no doubt that once completed, millions who are forced to commute by buses will avail themselves of the KCR as it is a cheaper way to travel but it will only work if there are feeder bus services available as part of a greater mass transit system. This is essential to ease the transport situation in the city.