Regional Stability Lies In Strong Iran-Pakistan Ties: Analyst

Islamabad, Feb 27, IRNA – A senior Pakistani analyst on Tuesday said that stability of region lies in strong Iran, Pakistan relations. Talking to IRNA, Orya Maqbool Jan said that it is very encouraging to see that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is near to its completion and Iran is establishing an oil refinery in Pakistani port city of Gwadar. He was of the view that Pakistan has to cooperate with Iran in all sectors to become economically stable. “There is no need for Pakistan to look towards other countries for help in the presence of Iran,” he said. The analyst said that gas pipeline would prove to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. The columnist went on to say that Iran is a close neighbor of Pakistan and is always ready to help us. Orya Maqbool Jan said that Pakistan should be benefited from the surplus energy recourses of Iran. He said that Pakistan has to develop strong relations with all of its neighboring states keeping in view the regional politics. Expressing his views the analyst termed as positive the upcoming visit of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Iran to sign Pak-Iran gas pipeline project agreement. “I think this visit would be fruitful,” he added. He said that the visit clearly depicts the closeness of Iran and Pakistan. He said that the gas line is very significant project for energy-deficient Pakistan. “The pipeline would bring economic stability in Pakistan,” he said. Orya Maqbool Jan said that it would be correct to say that Pakistan has decided to come out of American influence over its policy and is trying to develop strong relation with Iran in all sectors. The intellectual expressing his views said that new scenario is taking place in the region which is not acceptable to many western countries but it is in the interest of this region. The analyst viewed that Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan should jointly form a strategy to restore peace in Afghanistan. He said that joint trilateral forum would be the strongest possible alliance in the world. He said that the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan is the real problem for instability in the region. However, he said that scenario of Afghanistan would change after 2014 with the departure of foreign troops in the war torn country. Orya Maqbool Jan is a renowned columnist, poet, who writes Urdu columns. He has received numerous national awards, including the best Urdu columnist in 2004./end