DHAKA, Aug 10: Bangladesh is unlikely to authorize exports of natural gas to India for fear of triggering unrest at home despite mounting pressure from international donors and companies, a source close to the government and a report said Sunday.

“Based on reaction from political parties as well as public opinion, which are vehemently against such a move, the government is unlikely to go ahead with any decision on exports,” a source close to the government said.

The Daily Star newspaper, quoting policymakers who were not identified, said the government felt exports would have an immediate positive economic impact but would pose a “major political risk.”

An analysis said a decision to export gas would be “politically disastrous for the government,” it said.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who holds the energy portfolio, is to chair a meeting on Aug 17 to discuss the status of natural gas in the country, officials said.

The meeting comes after oil giant Shell last week said it would wrap up its operations in Bangladesh, although it denied the move was linked to the delay in taking a decision on exports.

Zia, inaugurating a gas turbine power station Sunday in the Tongi district near Dhaka, said her government wanted to ensure the country’s welfare by making the best use of natural gas resources. She encouraged local and foreign investors to support gas-based industries in the country.

Bangladesh has proven recoverable gas reserves of 13 trillion cubic feet, of which more than three trillion has already been extracted, according to official figures. According to a government study, current reserves of natural gas would last until 2020.

The United States and other major donor countries have pressed Bangladesh to export gas, most likely to neighbouring India, arguing that it would bring the country much-needed cash.

But the proposal faces strident opposition from the main opposition Awami League and smaller left-wing parties which have threatened to unseat Zia’s nearly two-year-old government if it decided to export natural gas.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh warned it would call an indefinite general strike the moment the government would decide to export gas.

The Awami League, lead by Zia’s arch-rival and predecessor as premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed, maintains that exporting gas to neighbouring India would hurt national interests as Bangladesh must first be sure it has a 50-year reserve.

State Minister for Energy Musharraf Hossain said Bangladesh was taking steps to find more reserves. He criticised the Awami League, saying that despite its stance now it had laid the groundwork for potential exports when in power from 1996 to 2001.

When Sheikh Hasina was premier, Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party in turn opposed gas exports. Her Islamist-allied government came to power in 2001 elections and has a two-thirds majority in parliament.

US oil giant Unocal is proposing a 1,360 kilometre (850 mile) gas pipeline stretching to India’s western state of Gujarat, which it says will also increase energy access within Bangladesh.

It has urged a quick decision on the matter, saying it is ready to invest 500 million dollars in Bangladesh as soon as the government gives the go ahead on exports.

EX-LAWMAKER: A former lawmaker from the Awami League was on Sunday sentenced in absentia to life in prison for illegal weapon possession, reports said.