LAHORE, Jan 27: Learning a lesson from the vulnerability of the Sui-Guddu gas pipeline, which was twice sabotaged during the past few days, the federal government has started thinking of taking special measures to protect the Iran-India gas line which will be passing through Pakistan.

Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Naurez Shakoor said this while talking to Dawn after a high-level meeting on Monday where the issue was discussed at length.

The minister said the government was aware of its obligations with respect to the proposed Iran-India pipeline and would address them.

He said it was true that some elements had succeeded in blasting the local pipeline, but the unfortunate incident had provided the government with an opportunity to take more effective measures to safeguard the national installations. He said now the government would have a fresh look at the measures proposed for the Iran-India pipeline so that neither the state had any concern about the security of the project.

“We’ll not let anybody put our repute at stake”, Naurez Shakoor said.

In response to a question, he said he had urged the interior ministry to enhance security measures for the Sui-Guddu pipeline to prevent any untoward incident in the future.

As for the damage caused by the ‘criminals’, the minister said he had set up a committee to assess the same.

The committee would submit its report in three days i.e. by Jan 30. — AM