By Baqir Sajjad Syed
ISLAMABAD: Iran continued to dominate the political and diplomatic scene on Wednesday as Pakistan cautioned British Foreign Secretary William Hague that sanctions against the Gulf country beyond the ones mandated by the United Nations could have serious repercussions for Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The warning, Dawn has learnt, was conveyed by Pakistani diplomats during their talks with Mr Hague, who is in Pakistan on his first visit as foreign secretary.
According to Foreign Office sources, a significant part of the talks focussed on the latest UN sanctions on Iran and the subsequent efforts by the US and EU to take punitive measures against Tehran's oil and gas sector.
Pakistan had on June 14 finalised a $7.6 billion gas pipeline deal with Iran, which is considered crucial for averting the energy crisis Pakistan is currently confronting. "Mr Hague was told that the US and EU sanctions could prove counter-productive and may force Iran to react," a senior foreign ministry official informed Dawn.
Pakistan fears that a cornered Iran could affect the situation in Middle East and the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.
According to the official, Mr Hague patiently listened to the Pakistani point of view.
Iran also figured at the press conference which followed the talks, though the guarded remarks of the British foreign secretary did not indicate that he had been won over by the persuasions of the Pakistan officials.
At the media briefing, which Mr Hague addressed with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, he reiterated that Britain supported "the additional measures within the EU to increase peaceful and legitimate pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme".
His words merely offered the reassurance that Britain would not support use of force against Iran, in case anyone in the audience feared another military adventure by the West.
The only consolation that Mr Hague was willing to offer was to reiterate what US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had said days earlier that the pipeline was Islamabad's internal matter.
Mr Hague, too, clarified that his country would not interfere in the "sovereign decision of Pakistan (on the gas pipeline project)".
Diplomacy dominated the mood during the press conference as Mr Qureshi also weighed his words carefully while speaking on the issue.
According to him, the Iran-Pakistan pipeline was one of the options (for addressing the country's energy crisis) that was "doable and made perfect economic sense", though he added that Pakistan, being a responsible country, would fulfil its international obligations.
The fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran, tightening punitive measures against Iranian military, industrial and shipping firms, were last week followed by European Union restrictions that barred new investments and technical cooperation with Iran's oil and gas sector.
The European Union said its sanctions were necessary to force Tehran to resume negotiations over its controversial nuclear programme.
Separately, the US Senate is expected to vote this week on a bill barring energy and financial firms from doing business with Iran.
The US and EU contend that their additional restrictions were meant to compensate for the watered down version of Security Council resolution mandating the new restrictions. Russia, which backed the fourth round of UN sanctions in the Security Council, has also opposed additional US and EU punitive measures, saying they were unacceptable and weakened the foundations for dialogue and interaction.
Pakistan has all along supported a negotiated settlement of the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. However, over the weekend, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani caused a mini-storm in the cup when he hinted that Pakistan would abide by US restrictions though he retracted his words a day later by saying the country would only abide by UN measures.
INDIA:
At the media briefing, the British foreign secretary made it clear that the new Conservative-Lib Dem government would continue to keep a safe distance from the messy relationship between India and Pakistan.
He said India was one of the countries with which Britain sought to elevate its ties because of the realisation that it was one of the fastest growing economies. But, at the same time, he said: "We want an equally strong relationship with Pakistan. We'll be sufficiently strong friends with both India and Pakistan to not to tell them how to resolve their bilateral problems and not to lecture them about those issues; so it is not for UK to lay down solutions for them."
VISA WOES:
Good news for Pakistani citizens followed Mr Hague's meeting with Prime Minister Gilani, where the former agreed to work with Pakistani authorities to resolve contentious issues in bilateral relations, including delays in visa issuance.
"It was agreed during the meeting that the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Pakistan's Minister of Interior in their meeting later in the afternoon would find ways and means to address contentious issues like expeditious issuance of visa to Pakistani nationals, curtailing the period of processing visa applications and issuance of visas to Pakistani businessmen by the British High Commission in Islamabad, directly, rather than forwarding their cases to the British regional hub in Abu Dhabi," a statement issued by the prime minister's office said.
The British foreign secretary told Mr Gilani that the new British government wanted a new momentum in Pak-UK relations by focussing on the areas of trade, investment and economic cooperation.
Mr Hague also met PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif.
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