Indian leader against IPI pipeline via Pak

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said the project would make India's energy supply 'hostage' to Islamabad.

Opposing the proposed Indo-Iran gas pipeline through Pakistan, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Friday said the project would make India's energy supply "hostage" to Islamabad.

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India would become dependent on future governments of Pakistan, which would be a wild risk, Swamy said in a statement here.

"When it (Pakistan) could not protect its own pipelines, how could it protect a Shia-Hindu pipeline," he asked.

"It was better to lay an underwater pipeline through the sea, even if it took more time," he added.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is visiting Iran next week and the pipeline issue is likely to figure prominently in talks.