Work on Pakistan, Iran gas pipeline halted due to sanctions

ISLAMABAD: The federal government was not moving ahead on the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project due to multilateral and unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran.

Replying to a question at the floor of the National Assembly here, Parliamentary Secretary Shehzadi Umerzadi Tiwana told on Friday that multilateral sanctions have been imposed by United Nations while the unilateral sanctions by United States and United Kingdom, Canada and European Union.

The unilateral sanctions imposed by US are the most severe amongst all international sanctions. The key US sanctions on Iran were imposed through Iran Sanctions Act, 1996, Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, 2010, National Defence Authorization Act,2012, etc.

In a written reply, the house was told that the Government of Pakistan was committed to the execution of the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project.

Due to international sanctions on Iran, Pakistan issued Force Majeure notice to Iran in March 2014.

In view of that Pakistan proposed to amend the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement enabling the parties to complete their respective sections of the pipelines within the extended period.

The project also came under discussion during the visit of President of Iran to Pakistan in March 2016 and both sides agreed to resolve all outstanding issues.

Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq remarked that he had discussion with the Iranian leadership on the issue and he would take up the issue in future as well.