In olden times, the land of Persia under the Parthian Empire was connected to its eastern neighbors, South Asia, and China by the great Silk Road. Caravans after caravans would ply the historic 11,200-kilometer (7,000-mile) road, carrying silk from China, spices, precious stones, metals, and jade from India, and gold, silver goods, medicines, and perfumes from Persia.

They moved through the Kara-Kum and Kyzyl-Kum deserts, the boundless steppes of Sary-Arka; passed over the ridges of the Pamirs and Tien-Shan, the Altai and the Karatau Mountains; and crossed the rivers Murgab and Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Djaik.
Times changed, and with it the ways, the means of transportation, likes and dislikes, needs and requirements of people -- but one thing stayed there, as it was in the bygone years, in the distant past, strong and powerful desire among cultures and civilizations to have a profound connection with one and others.
The people invented a completely new, very modern, up-to-date way to revive that link again -- a 56-inch diameter, 2,670-kilometer-long gas pipeline with compressor stations along the way to allow for a flow of up to 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas a day.
The gas pipeline would supply liquid energy to its old business partners in the East, Pakistan, India, and most probably also to China, as she is interested in expanding the project up to China.
This modern-day version of the grand Silk Road of yesteryear originates from South Pars gas field, Iran, passes through Sindh and Baluchistan, Pakistan, traversing some of the harshest terrains in the world -- hot sun-burnt deserts, cold freezing up to 9,300-foot-high mountains, under subzero winter temperatures creating the risk of freezing gas in pipeline, which will need special arrangements to permit the gas to flow freely -- in result, making it the costliest business venture for the stakeholders -- one million dollars for each kilometer, the total cost at $7.4 billion which could rise to $8 billion -- ending in India.
According to the estimate, at least 50 percent of the cost of constructing this pipeline is a consequence of severe weather, terrain conditions, and special technical provisions to protect against earthquakes in an area that is prone to seismic upheaval.
The pipeline would run about 1,115km in Iran, 705km in Pakistan and 850km in India.
It would bring both peace and prosperity not only to the region but in a way also to the world, calming down nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India, tying them in mutual business interests, lessening the chances of war, increasing the opportunity for them to live like civilized, peaceful, prosperous nations, and freeing up funds that can be spent on their citizens rather than on monstrous war machines.
In this sense it is not simply another gas pipeline, supplying energy from one country to another or from one region to other region, but, indeed a powerful means to achieve something great, something too high and sublime, like peace among peoples and prosperity at homes -- which our troubled world needs so dearly.
The great Silk Road never faced any dangers to its security but only once in the Middle Ages, when the barbaric Mongols were trampling every sign of civilization under their feet, the robbers, dacoits and bandits used to plunder the precious possessions of the caravans, otherwise no country or even no empire tried to halt the caravans of peace and prosperity.
But, alas! In our ‘enlightened times’ the neocons sitting in the White House -- mostly energy giants working for their multinational companies’ interests -- are doing their best to block this highly lucrative project, putting every possible pressure upon India and Pakistan, and hatching dangerous conspiracies.
U.S. opposition to the pipeline is not just because of its antipathy to the Islamic Republic of Iran but it is because Washington knows the involvement of Iran in this kind of projects will undo the efforts it has made all these years to dominate the transit routes of Asian energy.
It is an unwarranted interference in the affairs of regional states. It is the inherent right of sovereign states to expand economic relations with one another. No state has the right to impede the legitimate interstate commerce. It is gratifying that Islamabad and New Delhi have decided to go ahead with the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, resisting the United States’ overt and covert pressure.
The Bush administration is free to trade or not to trade with Iran but it reserves no right to impose its will on other states because they happen to trade with a country, which the U.S. dislikes for one reason or another.
As the world’s second-largest holder of proven natural gas reserves, Iran is keen to exploit this resource as a source of revenue. It is therefore pursuing gas export deals with a number of countries. Iran is an energy-rich nation while Pakistan and India are the energy-starved countries -- with two of the fastest growing economies -- need natural gas for their mills and factories to keep the momentum of economic growth going. With every passing day their needs in energy sector are growing and their own resources are too small to fulfill the ever-increasing demands.
Pakistan’s burgeoning domestic energy needs will double by 2010. The pipeline complex would boost industrial infrastructure, create jobs, and help poverty alleviation in Baluchistan and Sindh. Pakistan’s own gas reserves would be depleted by 2015 and the nation is critically dependent on gas for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes.
Baluchistan Province of Pakistan has seen political violence stemming from a strong sense of deprivation.
The gas pipeline project, says the U.S. scholar George Perkovitch, is an “economically necessary, environmentally-friendly and security-enhancing initiative” that the U.S. has long advocated. But, ironically the United States singles out IPI gas pipeline project to oppose.
Iran and India signed an agreement for an overland natural pipeline in 1993, and in 2002 Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement on a feasibility study for it. India would at once be able to source gas at half the cost of what it now pays for gas imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Iran, the world’s largest exporter of gas, would find a ready market for its huge reserves.
The IPI gas pipeline project is not only vital for India’s medium-term energy security, it is also the key which will help South Asia unlock the potential of a pan-Asian energy grid involving Central Asia and China as well.
A recent flurry of high-level diplomatic visits suggested that the project is very much on the cards and will not be abandoned or slowed down, despite the intense U.S. pressure on Pakistan and India.
All the signs are that the IPI pipeline deal will be wrapped up soon to the satisfaction of all three stakeholders. The key issues including two major stumbling blocks -- tariffs and the gas-sharing formula -- have already been resolved.
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has invited the leaders of India and Pakistan to Tehran at the end of this year to ink the $7.4 billion peace pipeline project, which could be operational as early as 2010-11