Pakistan's government has established a high-powered committee to find a negotiated resolution to a long-running dispute over an unbuilt gas pipeline connecting the two countries, as the threat of billions of dollars in international arbitration penalties mounts. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik told the Senate this week that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the committee to assess the project's legal, financial, and energy dimensions, with the case currently before an arbitration tribunal in Paris. Under a 2009 agreement, Pakistan was obligated to build its 781-kilometre section of the pipeline by 2014, but construction never began due to US sanctions and financing constraints — leaving Iran, which completed its portion years ago and has since filed a formal damages claim, to pursue compensation through international legal channels.