IN an excellent article, 'Sanctions and gas pipeline' (Jan 6), Ahmer Bilal Soofi says that according to the agreement signed with Iran on May 24, 2009, Pakistan is liable to pay a penalty of $2 million a day if it fails to complete, latest by the first quarter of 2015, the 700kmlong pipeline to connect with the pipeline that Iran has already laid up to its border with Pakistan.

Moreover, Pakistan will have to pay a huge claim for damages and costsin caseitcancels the agreement with Iran, in addition to facing a worsening of the gas shortage.the National Economic Council indicates that Pakistan intends to go ahead with the pipeline project. Now that Pakistan has made the right decision, an effort should be made to ward off the adverse effects of the UN and US sanctions, and Mr Ahmer has suggested various ways for that.

One way would be to invoke Article 50 of the UN Charter which permits any country that suffers heavily due to UN sanction to claim redress from it.

Pakistan could claim that resolution 1929 does not apply to Iran-Pakistan agreement which was concluded before the saidresolution was passed.

Other relief could be for the UN Council to indemnify Pakistan against all costs, damages and compensation claims that would arise in consequence of Pakistan violating the terms of a valid contract with Iran, in addition to the said UN agency meeting the extra cost of gas imports that we may be required to pay as a result of losing the Iranian gas.

I would think a non-traditional method would be to ask US authorities to direct the UN Council to exempt Pakistan from resolution 1929.

I suppose a simple telephone call by US Secretary of StateAn added complication, as pointed out by the writer, is that the UN Security Council's resolution 1929 of June 9, 2010, though a bit ambiguous, seems to prohibit states from having any financial transactions with Iran that result in support to the Iranian nuclear programme, and Iran-specific US law prohibiting commercial dealings with Iran creates further problems for Pakistan.

Pakistan seems to be truly stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

However, an approval of the issuance of sovereign guarantee by the executive committee ofHillary Clinton to Ban Ki-moon, telling him that Barack Obama wants this done, would be enough to set him in motion and do the needful.

I remember how former US president George Bush just said that he sees a role for Tony Blair in the Middle East and within no time he was installed as a peace envoy representing the quartet a position he is still holding, much to the disadvantage and misfortune of the Palestinians. I hope our government takes Ahmer's advice seriously and gets the matter resolved without delay.

S. R. R HASHMIKarachi