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NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s national day was celebrated in Delhi amid rare bonhomie at its high commission in New Delhi on Friday, the pleasant nippy air mingling nicely with news of swift progress towards petrol imports from India.
Pakistan’s leading lawyer and human rights icon Asma Jahangir was in attendance at the festivities at the head of a lawyers’ delegation.
Strategic thinkers from Pakistan will be next to visit, followed by a Pakistan Lifestyle trade festival next month, the first of its kind in India, according to Pakistan’s outgoing High Commissioner Shahid Malik.
Regretting that it was his friend Mr Malik’s last national day celebration in Delhi after a creditable five and a half year tenure as Pakistan’s high commissioner, the chief guest at the function, Indian MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, stressed that he saw Pakistan now emerging as a bulwark against terrorism at home and in the region.
That Mr Aiyar, seen as a friend of Pakistan, was asked by the Indian government to represent it at the national day function was seen as a positive development. It might be interpreted as a sign that New Delhi was keen to shore up its relations with Pakistan in a “fast forward” mode, as Mr Aiyar put it.
News of trade was heartening for the business community. Soon after removing restrictions on import of goods from India, Pakistan has sought immediate supplies of petrol from the country to meet a widening deficit, the Press Trust of India said.
“I discussed importing petrol from India during talks with petroleum secretary G. C. Chaturvedi here,” Pakistan’s Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry said on the sidelines of the 7th Asia Gas Partnership Summit here.
Pakistan is looking to start petrol imports from India, using tankers, as early as next month, but issues of quality and specification need to be sorted out before that.
New Delhi has agreed, in principle, to supply fuel to Pakistan from Bhatinda, where Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd is about to commission a refinery. Also, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has a fuel depot at Bhatinda which can supply petrol and other products to Pakistan, the news agency said.
Pakistan, Mr Chaudhry said, was keen on importing other fuels as well but for the time being it has requirement of only petrol.
Officials of the two countries will meet next month to finalise modalities.
A hurdle is the fuel specification. While Pakistan uses Euro-II grade fuel, Indian refineries produce petrol and diesel meeting Euro-III & IV standards.
Mr Chaudhry said Pakistan would call on India if it needed diesel and jet fuel in future. “When we need jet fuel or diesel, our first port of call will be India.”
