Pakistan: Handle pipeline politics cautiously

Another snag has cropped up in the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project, which must be handled carefully. India has threatened to pull out of the $7 billion dollar gas pipeline project if Islamabad does not bring down the transit fees it wants to charge for allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory to India. The pipeline is going to be 1,036-km long inside Pakistan and the task of looking after it will be Islamabad

Normally, the middle or transit country has the upper hand in negotiations, but this power of leverage depends on how badly the consumer country wants the gas. If Pakistan wants the Iranian gas more than, or as much as, India does, then Pakistan doesn