Pakistan Still Wants India to Join IPI Pipeline Project

Pakistan is still keen to have India onboard the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline project despite apprehensions in Indian official circles over U.S. pressure, The Tribune said on Monday.

''If India desires, they are still welcome to join the project,'' Pakistan's Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Asim Hussain said.

He said Iran and Pakistan were going ahead with the project despite difficulties. It was entirely up to India to make up its mind.

Hussein was in India to discuss the transit fee and other issues connected with the U.S.-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

Iran signed a bilateral deal with Pakistan in 2010 for the construction of the $ 7.6-billion project without India’s participation. The project had been planned in the 1990s and originally would have extended from Pakistan to India.