Iran pipeline project will go ahead: Musharraf

Pakistan will go ahead with the multi-billion-dollar pipeline Iran-Pakistan-India project to carry Iranian gas even if India decides not to join it, President Pervez Musharraf has said.

Musharraf expressed the hope that India would show interest in the completion of the project, the daily Dawn reported. "However, if India does not paticipate, the project would still be completed," the paper quoted Musharraf as saying.

In a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri, Musharraf said his country wanted positive development on the project and hoped that pricing issue would soon be resolved among the three countries.

Kasuri met Musharraf yesterday to brief him about his (Kasuri's) recent visit to Iran and discussions with Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

Musharraf said Pakistan urgently needed energy as it was vital for fast pace of industrial development and talks in this regard were under way with other countries.

On the Iranian nuclear programme issue, Musharraf said Islamabad supported talks between the European Union and Iran and wanted a diplomatic solution to the problem. "Use of force would only destabilise the entire region," he said.