Former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Tuesday said that Pakistan should not fear being slapped with sanctions by the United States when it comes to the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline.

He was responding to a question about the project inaugurated on Monday by President Asif Ali Zardari at a press conference organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.He regretted that the government had taken five years to start the project but added that the delay could have been caused by “some pressures”. He, however, welcomed the fact that the two countries had finally agreed to start work on the project that he said would be good for Pakistan’s economy. Kasuri also predicted “winds of opportunities” in Afghanistan after America’s exit in 2014.

He also praised the PTI for holding party elections. He said it was the first time in Pakistan that a major political party had held party elections across the country. Another political party had held the elections in a few districts in early 1970s, he said.Kasuri said that like 1970, the people would vote in the 2013 elections for a party on account of its ideology rather than ‘electables’.

Earlier, newly elected presidents and general secretaries from three regions also spoke with reporters and announced their support for Ejaz Chaudhary as the party’s Punjab president. Chaudhary will run for the party’s Punjab chair against Ahsan Rasheed.The candidate for the provincial office said that by electing around 80,000 office bearers at various levels, the PTI had empowered workers at the grassroots level. “It is the first step towards change,” Chaudhary said.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Yasmin Rashid, who is seeking election as the party’s Punjab general secretary; Mian Noor Khan Bhabha, the newly elected regional president