Editorial

America has affirmed unequivocally that Indian energy deals with Iran though declared from housetop are “years away and exist only in the hypothetically realm.” A senior Bush administration office, an Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns declared it.   Burns, who has emerged as the point man for negotiations with India, said bluntly while addressing the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies on December 1.the plans include the oil deals signed between Indian and Iran and the proposed gas pipe line in which besides these two countries, Pakistan is involved.

Reuters  quoted Burns as saying: "The Indians have assured us that there is no plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian and Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away."  Burns is the principal interlocutor with the Government of India, specifically with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran

The often stated position of India as well as of the two other countries runs contrary to what the American interlocutor has unhesitatingly stated. Burns is evidently more vocal, but close to the position which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has often taken.  

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told the India Economic Summit on November 28, Mr. Aiyar said, "[The] Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is indispensable for India's energy security and its economic growth." Mr. Aiyar was quoted as saying that three sets of bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan, India and Iran, and Pakistan and Iran would culminate in a trilateral dialogue early next year.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has very often declared publicly and in his meetings with UPA partners, particularly with the Left has been saying that India has an independent mind and approach as far Iran or its own energy needs are concerned. It is a sovereign country and knows how to maintain its position. He confirmed at the Chandigarh press club a few months away that gas pipe line deal is on as well as other energy related negotiations.  Also, on December 1, he told the Rajya Sabha, "India and Iran have imparted a strategic dimension to their relations with cooperation covering fields including hydrocarbons, trade, transit and science and technology cooperation."

Petroleum Minister,   Mani Shankar Aiyar who has been articulating unequivocally India’s position and negotiating with other countries, particularly with Iran about energy needs. "We have made extraordinary progress towards realising a world-class safe and secure project,” Aiyar maintained. So, the minister authorised by the Union Cabinet to negotiate the gas pipeline feels that extraordinary progress had been made in realising the project.  Aiyar also stated that three sets of bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan, India and Iran, and Pakistan and Iran would culminate in a trilateral dialogue early next year. 

Pakistan too has stated that it was more than willing and ready to provide security to the gas pipeline as it was bound make good money. Iran , of course, is keen as it always was and even India’s vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency  meeting in Vienna did not deter it from taking the negotiations forwards.

Of course, huge funds required for the gas pipeline would be critical for the successful conclusion of those negotiations.

There is another interesting side to the whole game. America did not need Indian vote in Vienna on September 24 as it had the numbers to push the vote through without India. What the U.S. administration wanted to do as some observers noted and has done effectively was to dent Indo-Iranian relations. Are these statements meant to further dent those relations, isolate Iran whom President Bush has declared as of the three evil states and make it a favoured target of attack?  Is India becoming party to that hegemonic game?