An inter-provincial conference which began in Islamabad yesterday began taking stock of the situation at Sui, where a major pipeline was damaged by blasts, and assessing the reasons for the breach of security that allowed the sabotage.
Key officials of Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab participated in the meeting, with officials stating they hoped to "come up with a startegy to prevent future incidents."
Meanwhile, three separate probes by the Punjab, Balochistan and federal governments are underway to determine whether a deliberate act of sabotage had taken place.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd is carrying out its own investigation, while paramilitary troops have been posted along the pipeline in Balochistan and the southern Punjab.
The army is said to have taken "strong notice" of the sabotage, which amounts to a threat on a vital utility. A security plan by the army is in place to protect the gas fields at Sui from attack.
Gas supply was restored to millions of consumers by Friday evening, before one person was injured and eight other fainted after inhaling gas when one of the repaired pipelines developed a leak and caught fire at Goth Mazari (district Rajanpur).
A second explosion in the repaired pipeline at Goth Mazari halted repair work. Gas supply from the Sui, Luti and Pirkoh gas fields was suspended and the people evacuated the area.
While work had again resumed fully yesterday after the setbacks on Friday, other problems continued to take place, with the repair work described by experts as "difficult and sometimes hazardous."
An official from the Sui gas fields said that when the gas transmission was restored at about 8.00 pm on Friday after technicians repaired the assembly wall at Mazari Goth following the fire, the pipeline leaked again, causing an explosion.
It was not confirmed whether it caught fire, but the officials reported that a large quantity of gas had leaked and it was difficult to breathe. The area was evacuated as a spark could lead to major destruction, the official said.
The suspension of gas from Sui, Luti and Pirkoh would affect most parts of Punjab and NWFP, he said, adding that now the line would take more time to repair. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited officials said the gas pressure in the pipe would gradually be increased and peak in six to seven hours.
They claimed that supply to industrial units of Punjab and the NWFP would resume within a day. But the fact that a repaired pipeline developed a leak and caught fire as gas pressure increased in the afternoon means that future repairs could also prove as dangerous.
Gulf News 2003
