Kaladan News

Dated: Tuesday, December 23, 2003.

Burma gas sale to India

Arakan body urges PM not to allow pipeline

Chittagong, Dec. 23: The Arakan Muslim Community Development Foundation of Burma has urged Prime Minister Khaleda Zia not to allow construction of Burma to India gas pipeline through Bangladesh, according to Mr. Mohammad Zahir Gaffari, the President of the Foundation.

In a letter sent to the PM recently, he said “the Arakanese are against export of gas to India by the ruling junta in Burma and residents of Arakan State in Burma have been agitating against the export of gas to India as the gas sale would not benefit them. Export of natural gas to India has been kept a secret to the people of the state.”

The international oil companies will start producing natural gas from block (A-1) of the Arakan coast, but the public has no idea about what to expect from the major oil exploration. The people of Arakan do not know that the project has already been sold to India by the junta and production will commence shortly by an international consortium led by Indian Oil Company Kugos, according to a statement by Indian gas companies, he further said.

The gas will be fed through a pipeline from Kyauktaw-Platwa in northern Arakan via Tripura and Mizoram in India to Assam, Gaffari said in his letter to the PM.