Iran, Pakistan Sign Gas Pipeline Accord

Iran and Pakistan have signed an accord to lay a gas pipeline for taking Iranian gas to Pakistan. Christened as the Peace Pipeline, the accord was signed by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran. The project will help to transfer 150 million cubic metres of gas a day. Construction of the 56-inch-thick pipeline will be completed in five years.

Iran has stated that it is ready for India’s participation as a third partner in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project that has been finalised. There would be no obstacle for India’s joining to the deal

Terms of Agreement
As per the terms of the accord, the 2,700-km pipeline would transfer Iranian gas to India, through Pakistan. The text of the accord included an article that would allow India to join the project at an appropriate time.

It is said that the project was conceptually attractive, but the turbulence in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province posed practical difficulties in its implementation.

The Project
The project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran.

In fact, the sudden change of stance from the Pakistani government and the pace of developments at the project suggest that the strong US opposition has softened.

According to the initial design of the project, the 2,700 km-long pipeline would cover around 1,100 km in Iran, 1000 km in Pakistan and around 600 km in India, and the size of the pipeline was estimated to be 56 inches in diameter.

Third Major Strike in Lahore

In a daring attack, Taliban suicide squad on May 27, 2009 targeted Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), detonating an explosives-laden car outside its fortified provincial headquarters here that left at least 35 people dead, seven of them personnel of the spy agency, and nearly 400 injured. The site is also close to the Lahore High Court where Jamat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, detained in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack, was scheduled to appear for a hearing.

Up to five heavily-armed militants, who struck early this morning, failed to reach the main premises and rammed their Toyota vehicle into the barriers on the road leading to the buildings housing ISI and Lahore Police Rescue offices.

The terrorist hit squad first headed their car towards the two buildings located just off the crowded Mall Road in Civil Lines, but as heavily armed guards prevented them, they came out and exchanged fire and then set off a massive blast, which some witnesses equated with an earthquake.

Third Major Strike
This was the third major strike to rock the city in less than three months following the audacious March 3 attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team that killed seven persons and injured six players and the March 30 raid on the Manawan Police Academy that left 10 people dead.

The attack was a bid to free Lashkar-e-Tayyaba’s ideological guru Hafiz Sayeed, who was to be produced in court nearby around the time the terrorists struck. His escape was to have been effected in the confusion. Those who believe this seek to link the Lahore atrocity directly to the November 26 attack on Mumbai last year by LeT. The implied suggestion is that Pakistan is serious about nailing the Mumbai attackers and is paying the price for it.

Handiwork of Taliban
The incident appears to be the handiwork of the Taliban or a terrorist network aligned with it in retaliation for the anti-Taliban Army action in the Swat region. The Pakistan Army claims to have cleared most parts of Malakand division, including Swat, of the Taliban presence. Pakistan, which created the Taliban in the nineties as part of its larger goal of acquiring strategic depth in Afghanistan, in under pressure from the international community, particularly the US, to continue the anti-Taliban drive till the scourge is wiped out.

The monster is getting out of hand and now aims to capture the Pakistani nation. It can aspire high because it has a crucial band of support inside the country’s security establishment. Unfortunately, it is the people who pay the price. Indeed, it is this which is common to the understanding of terrorism in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. If the Pakistani state cares, it has not shown sufficient signs of it.

Pakistan will have to uproot the militant jihadi culture, wind up the training camps and habitats of the off-shoots of the Taliban and other extremist groups if it is serious about fighting terrorism to the finish. It will have to destroy all the terrorist networks to win the battle against the enemies of peace.

Vienna Fallout Violence Sets Punjab Aflame

Violence erupted in Punjab on May 25, 2009 following the attack on a Punjab-based religious leader at a gurdwara in Austrian capital of Vienna on May 24. The victim, Rama Nand, head of Sach Khand Dera, died later.

The provocation for violence in the State came from Vienna where Sant Niranjan Dass, the head of Dera Sachkhand, based at Ballan village, near Jalandhar, was attacked in a gurdwara by a group of fanatics. The armed attack resulted in serious injuries to the Sant and the death of his number two, Sant Rama Nand.

Many others were injured. As the news of the attack spread, Guru Ravidass devotees and followers of the Dera, largely based in the Doaba region, reacted violently, leading to the imposition of a curfew in Jalandhar. Violent incidents and tension have also been reported from other parts of the State.

Alarming Situation
The violence forced authorities to call Army and clamp curfew in at least four major cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur. Meanwhile, more reports of violence started pouring in from other districts as well. However, the Government has deployed paramilitary forces in sensitive districts. Two persons were also reportedly killed in Jalandhar when police opened fire to disperse a mob.

The protesters, the followers of religious sect identified with Guru Ravidass, have damaged and burnt over hundred buses, set on fire two trains, ransacked shops, hospitals and burnt scores of two-wheelers. For almost 12 hours, there was total anarchy, especially in Jalandhar before the Army was called. The violence started from Butta Mandi in Jalandhar, where the sect has a large following. Soon it spilled over to other areas. The protesters went on rampage bringing normal life to a standstill in almost all over the State.

The Tragedy
Soon after the reports of attack on dera head Niranjan Dass and second-in-command Sant Rama Nand at Vienna reached Jalandhar, their followers came out on roads. The police were caught unawares as the force was not prepared for such an eventuality. While Sant Rama Nand had died later in the hospital, Sant Niranjan Dass is said to be critical. They represent the majority of Dalit community of Punjab having their headquarters in Vallan, 13 km from Jalandhar. They had gone to Austria to take part in a congregation which was opposed by fundamentalist groups on the ground that they have been distorting the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs. The reports said that three of the Vienna fallout: Violence spreads in Punjab five assailants were beaten to death on the spot and two were handed over to the police.

Unwarranted Attack
It is natural for the Dera followers to feel hurt at this outrageous and unwarranted attack, but they have to exercise restraint and protest in a peaceful manner. The Vienna police has already arrested the assailants who will face the consequences of their crime.

The way some of the devotees have chosen to express their anger by burning buses and causing destruction to government property may not be the right way of letting out anger and pent-up feelings. Why stop trains, causing inconvenience to innocent citizens? Violent protests often invite disgruntled anti-social elements and dormant militant groups to exploit the situation and disturb the peace in the State.

The Repercussions
It can be said that the repercussions in Punjab after an attack on a religious leader in Vienna recall the disruption that wracked the state two years ago, almost to the week. Then it was a somewhat more institutionalised reaction by the clergy to a prominent “dera”, Dera Sacha Sauda, one of the dozens of groups in Punjab with followings in the tens of thousands. This time, leaders of the Dera Sachkhand Balan were attacked in Vienna. Dera Sachkhand Balan is a lesser-known group that draws its adherents from more marginalised social groups.

Fundamentally, however, the people of the state need to address the social fissures within in a more satisfactory way. The question is not basically political, although in Sikhism religion and politics are not divorced from one another. At the administrative level, however, mass violent outbursts have to be contained effectively.The present situation requires mature handling by leaders of all political parties and persuasions.