Malik informs Senate: High-level body to resolve Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline issue

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a high-level committee to resolve the issue involving the stalled Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project to map out a way forward.

Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said this in the Upper House of the Parliament during its meeting on Tuesday.

He said that the committee would review the legal, financial and energy-related aspects of the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project and devise its recommendations accordingly. The committee, he said, would proceed ahead keeping in view Pakistan’s energy needs.

In addition, the said committee would work to find out a “mutually acceptable solution” for both sides, the minister said.

READ ALSO: PBF pushes for revival of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

Malik was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Talha Mahmood from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) regarding “non-completion of Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline within Pakistan resulting in consistent gas shortage in the country.”

The petroleum minister said “The committee would work to put an end to the impasse in arbitration—so that an appropriate solution is put forward in the national interest.”

He added, “Iran is a brotherly country to Pakistan. The leaderships of both the countries are in continuous contact to reach out a mutually acceptable and amicable solution to this issue,” the minister said.

Iran has already made substantial physical progress on its side, bringing gas from the South Pars Field to a major Iranian city close to the Pakistan border, he added

“The matter has reached the arbitration phase in Paris, making it important for Pakistan to handle the potential liability associated with the project carefully,” Malik said. He said the government wants to avoid further complications in litigation, and is, therefore, working towards a negotiated resolution with Iran.

The high-level committee is looking into the “potential liability facing Pakistan, the implications of litigation and the country’s future energy requirements to determine a way forward on the project,” the minister said.

Earlier to a question also posed by PPP’s Mahmood during the Senate question hour, a written reply from the petroleum minister revealed that Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) Ahmed Hayat Lak was entitled to a monthly base salary of over 5.5 million rupees, in addition to a house rent of 45 percent of base salary, besides other perks and privileges.

Anas Farook, the OGDCL’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), is entitled to a monthly base salary of over Rs 2.8 million in addition to a house rent of 45 percent of base salary besides other perks and privileges, the written reply revealed.

Meanwhile, like the previous Senate meeting, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI’s) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Ali Zafar tried to present a resolution in Senate’s Tuesday session demanding that PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Like the previous motion, this motion too, was not allowed by the Chair on the grounds that the matter was sub judice.

The Senate session was adjourned till Friday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026