Seema Guha

New Delhi: When Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stops over in the capital for a few hours on his way home from Colombo on April 29, he will be given a red carpet welcome. The Iranian leader will meet president Prathibha Patil and prime minister Manmohan Singh along with some other senior Indian leaders.

The talks, as in all such important visits, will centre on bilateral and regional issues.

Afghanistan, where both India and Iran have much at stake will figure prominently in the discussions.

Ahamedinejad will also take the opportunity to explain Iran’s stand on the nuclear stand off with the US, and will certainly hammer home the point that Tehran has every right to nuclear power. Unlike India, Iran had signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

The India-Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will also be high on the agenda. The multi- billion dollar project, once celebrated as the peace pipeline for South Asia has been delayed as much for the haggling over the pricing of gas as for political considerations.

With an eye on pushing the India-US nuclear deal through, New Delhi had been cautious not to annoy the US, which regards Iran as an enemy country. India had voted with Washington against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in 2006. This had strained relations between the two for a while.

Though short of pulling out of the project, India had let matters drag. On a visit to the US in 2005, Singh himself had been sceptical of the project.

Now however, with chances of the nuclear deal failing because of domestic political considerations, India is likely to show more interest. Added to this is the threat of China stepping in to replace India if New Delhi is reluctant. The Chinese are keen to get in, as they are hungry for energy and have been scouting all round the world for oil and gas. The gas pipeline project is an ambitious attempt to carry gas from Iranian oil fields through Pakistan to energy starved India.

Iran and Pakistan are getting restless and want India to take a decision. In February this year, Iranian advisor and spokesman for the foreign ministry Seyed Mohammed Ali Hoseini told reporters on a visit to New Delhi that he wanted India to move fast.

However, to a direct question on whether Tehran was considering replacing China with India for the trilateral project, Hoseini said, “Our first consideration is to get the project moving between Iran, Pakistan and India. China and other countries can follow later during the second stage.”

Source : DNA