TEHRAN -- The following is excerpts of an exclusive interview with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. He took part at the 30th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Tehran last week. The interview carried in Kasuri's Hotel Esteghlal suite covers a variety of issues including Islamabad-New Delhi peace overtures, the tripartite pipeline project carrying Iran's gas from Pakistan to India, the post-Saddam Iraq and revitalization of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The pipeline carrying Iran's gas from Pakistan to India will create "strong lobbies" for peace in Islamabad and New Delhi, says Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

"We welcome it because both countries will gain from the project besides Iran," he said in an exclusive interview with the TEHRAN TIMES. "India is a vast country which is energy deficient," he added, "So let India start by agreeing extension of the pipeline to its territory." Responding to a question on when and at what level Islamabad and New Delhi will resume talks, Pakistan's top diplomat suggested, "We feel we should do it as fast as possible." "We can start from where President (Parvez) Musharraf and Prime Minister (Atal Behari) Vajpayee ended. We don't have to re-invent the wheel."

Kasuri also said that Pakistan and India's desire for peace comes from "within" rejecting reports that the nuclear-armed neighbors are under pressures from outside. "We welcome encouragement Pakistan has received from mutual friends," he went on naming Iran, Japan, China, EU and the U.S. "We appreciate and value friends like Iran in this regard." "When two nations have fought each other and are not in speaking terms, it is unfortunate that sometime they need others make them to sit to talk."

According to Kasuri the mediation measures between India and Pakistan are a face saving effort. "It is a question of loss of face or who will initiate the talks," he said indicating that sometime third parties come between in order to prevent the "loss of face". "It is in our interests to have peace," he asserted. "Pakistan and India are great but poor countries. We have to remove poverty and secure economic development." Elsewhere in the interview, Pakistan's foreign minister called for preserving the sovereignty of Iraq. "The right to govern which should be restored to Iraqis is their exclusive right."

Speaking on the UN Security Council Resolution 1483 which lifted Iraq's economic sanctions after 13 years, he said that the vote was an "improvement". The resolution passed under one-month rotating presidency of Pakistan as the UNSC chair-state in May. "The resolution may not be a perfect resolution. Not many countries regard it a perfect resolution, but it's an improvement to the extent that vital role of the UN is recognized."

The Pakistani official also commented on how the Islamic world shall add on its significance globally as well as how its voice - the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) -- can be revitalized in the wake of the emerging world order. "The outside world only recognizes power, and power comes from science and technology," he said, "Islamic states also have to invest on education and human resources in the long run." "You have to first recognize the ground realities and then try to change it," said an eager Kasuri who did not mince his words in stressing that the Islamic world must "recognize its weaknesses, analyze their causes and remedy those weaknesses."