NEW DELHI, July 31: The Union ministry of external affairs has expressed "surprise" at Pakistan's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Choudhary Nisar Ali Khan's denial that he had made a proposal to sell power to India.

A concrete offer had, in fact, been made in writing by Islamabad around the middle of May and the Ministry of External Affairs had responded positively to the suggestion. Ministry sources today were at a loss to explain Chaudhary's denial in Islamabad, stating, that ``no such offer had been made to India and neither is such a proposal under consideration.''

The Pakistani Minister's denial directly contradicts the statement made in the Rajya Sabha yesterday (and in the Lok Sabha today), that Islamabad had offered about 1,000 MW of surplus power from a World Bank-funded project coming up just outside Karachi. The power, Alagh added, could be used in the energy-needy western states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.