The plan for laying a pipeline for the transportation of gas from the Central Asian countries is not dependent on an approval from India, a senior Pakistani official has said.

"It was Pakistan that had proposed to include India in the project so that it could export its surplus gas," the managing director of the state-owned Sui Southern Gas Company, Munawar Baseer Ahmad said on Thursday.

Referring to the meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan at Ashkabad recently, he said that the inclusion of India in the project was discussed at length.

India was formally requested in a meeting of the ministers of the three countries as well as representatives of the Asian Development Bank in Manila in March.

However, the Indian government expressed several reservations. They apprehend a likely sabotage attack on the pipeline, he said.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline will pump gas from one of the biggest Turkmen deposit – Dovletabad -- to Central Pakistan.

The overall length of the pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cu.m. will be around 1,500 km. Of which, 170 km will go across Turkmenistan, 830 km across Afghanistan, and 400 km across Pakistan.