Pakistan is facing a severe energy crisis that is having a catastrophic effect on its industries and on its citizens. Now it's looking to Iran to meet its growing energy needs, but the US has other ideas.
ISLAMABAD: The gas shortage in Pakistan is severely affecting the lives of its population.
Fehmida Hassan, a housewife, faces this issue every day. She must make the little gas she has last all day -- the mother of two has to prepare meals for her husband and young children, but often there is not enough to go around.
Food is not the problem, but the gas shortage is. In Islamabad, there is no guarantee that there will be enough gas to do even the simplest of things. Fehmida said: "I am facing a lot of problems as there is a lack of gas. The children have to go to school in the morning but I can't prepare breakfast for them and a lot of times, even my husband goes to his office hungry."
Pakistan is in the middle of an energy crisis that is threatening to engulf the economy and its industries. Every day, there is a gas shortfall of two billion cubic feet and the country remains in the dark for up to six hours as the demand for electricity vastly exceeds the power supply.
It is ordinary families like Fehmida's that are suffering the fall-out. Mohammad Mallick, a senior journalist and political analyst in Islamabad, said: "The gas shortage is not just another economic problem in Pakistan, it's a life and death issue. Now it's no longer about whether the cost of production is up or down -- people can't cook, there's no gas in homes to cook breakfast, people are going hungry.
"The government has to make some tough decisions -- either face the wrath of some countries or the wrath of its own people." In an effort to meet Pakistan's fast-growing energy needs, the government is looking to Iran for a way out.
Currently, natural gas is Pakistan's main energy source, meeting almost half of Pakistan's energy needs. The government hopes to augment it further with a gas pipeline from Iran that would restore Pakistan's near empty gas reserves.
Despite mounting US pressure against a partnership with Iran, in March 2013 the Pakistani government informed the US that they could not abandon the project due to the catastrophic energy crisis at home.
Dr Gulfaraz Ahmad, former chairman of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, said: "We need to get not only their nod, but their support in actually getting this project complete. On one hand, our economy has been wrecked because of war; on the other hand, is the energy issue -- mainly the Iran-Pakistan pipeline.
"As a friend and ally, the US should look at it from out perspective and not stop a lifeline that is crucial for the future of Pakistan."
As relations continue to soften between Iran and the US, the Pakistani government remains cautiously optimistic about the future of the pipeline.
Mushahid Hussain Syed, a Pakistani senator, said: "The United States and the western world have reached an agreement with Iran on their nuclear programme, and once this agreement is there, it will open up new avenues for Iran's conclusion in the international community as a partner and not an aggressor.
"I feel that this pipeline project could again be rejuvenated and be the game-changer people have been talking about."
Pakistan is suffering from an unprecedented energy crisis as the country's fast growing population is not being matched by growth in cheap, available energy.
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline may be a quick fix but with widespread condemnation from the West, the cost may prove too high to bear.
