ISLAMABAD: On his day of farewell, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik on Wednesday blamed his ministry’s bureaucracy for creating confusion in the foreign media over a ‘delicate geopolitical matter’ of national importance and bilateral ties with Tehran through a casual policy statement given on his behalf in parliament about the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

Speaking at a news conference, Mr Malik said he had not seen the statement given in writing to the National Assembly and was taken as read on his behalf.

“This is complete disinformation that we have given a fresh notice of force majeure to Iran,” he said, adding the notice was given about 8-10 years ago and the statement was issued in the context of a question about the latest status of the project.

He said Iran did not accept the notice and through constructive bilateral engagement, Pakistan was given two periods of respite of five years each. One of the extensions in the deadline for completion of project is ongoing, he added.

The outgoing minister said he chose to clarify the position because Pakistan was actively involved with Iran in finding a creative solution to build the pipeline as the country direly needed gas and wanted to complete the project at the earliest in a transparent manner and at a viable price, but the only thing it wanted to avoid was international sanctions.

“We are engaged with all the actors, governments and agencies that impose sanctions and with the brotherly neighbour with which we want to have strong friendly relations and complete the pipeline,” he said.

“The bureaucracy has its own way of processing responses to questions from parliamentarians. They should have given time and date (of the force majeure) in the absence of which the impression emerged as if Pakistan has recently written a letter to Iran to shelve the project,” he said.

Asked why other countries did not face threats of sanctions while doing business with Iran, Mr Malik said some countries like Azerbaijan, Turkiye and Iraq had waivers against sanctions because they used to have oil trade with Iran earlier, but this was not the case with Pakistan.

According to the statement given to the NA, the pipeline was stalled due to international sanctions on Iran.

The statement had read “Pakistan has issued a force majeure and Excusing Event notice to Iran under the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA), which resultantly suspends Pakistan’s obligations under the GSPA. Iran, however, disputes the validity of the Force Majeure.”

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023