Energy politics in South Asia

An all too visible energy crunch lies at the heart of Pakistan’s unfolding economic crisis. In fact, its deleterious effects in various sectors have become obvious probably a trifle earlier than expected because of a rapid increase in demand.

It is a problem that all the states of South Asia face in a setting where for reasons that vary from case to case actual achievement in developing power has lagged behind national planning.
A common denominator of national strategies has been a publicly acknowledged realisation that robust exploitation of indigenous resources will have to be supplemented by trans-national energy imports to reach an optimum level of energy security.

This is an important dimension of the total profile, as such cooperation does not seem to follow simple laws of economics and appears to be vulnerable to intra-regional and extra-regional political pressures. Energy seems to have a built-in dialectic.

On the one hand, there is unprecedented recognition of the salience of international energy flows while, on the other, the quest for energy generates relentless competition, desire for hegemonic control of resources and politics of denying easy access to international political rivals.

Gulf News