KP governor names 12 in illegal mining, cancels all licences
Faisal Karim Kundi gave contractors one week to remove machinery and said 90 kg of gold a month was leaving the province for Afghanistan.
All gold and other mining licences in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been cancelled and 12 political figures, among them Shehryar Afridi, Aftab Alam and a brother of Sohail Afridi, are involved in illegal mining, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said at a press conference on Saturday.
Kundi said contractors had been given one week to remove their machinery, after which it would be confiscated. He said 90 kg of gold was being taken out of the province every month and that the metal was being sent to Afghanistan, where he said it was used for terrorism. Illegal mining in the province was worth Rs4.92 billion a month, he said, and the people running it paid extortion to the militants he called Fitna al-Khawarij.
The governor said operations against illegal mining bases would be intensified. He said he was working with his team after the imposition of governor's rule in the province to bring mineral extraction under the law. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's resources, he said, had been plundered over the past 13 years, and from now on the province would run on a system of reward and punishment rather than nepotism or lawbreaking.
Kundi said peace was his first priority and that nobody would be allowed to rob the province of its resources. The province's mineral wealth, he said, was a trust held for its people and would be protected so that development could go forward. He warned that action against those involved in illegal mining would continue without discrimination and said the mining sector would be made transparent.
On militancy, the governor said the state had no margin to lose and that all state institutions and concerned parties were committed to peace and stability in the province.
Express News reported that police and district administrations had carried out large operations against the illegal gold mining mafia in Nowshera and Kohat, burning heavy machinery used in the mining and recovering cash and equipment. The outlet also reported that police personnel were killed in the line of duty during the operations, without giving a number.
Neither report carried a response from any of the people the governor named.
How the reports differ
Express News led on the police operations, naming Nowshera and Kohat, reporting that heavy machinery was burned and cash and equipment seized, and that police personnel were killed, without giving a number, a name or any figure. Aaj News led with Governor Faisal Karim Kundi's press conference, naming Shehryar Afridi, Aftab Alam and Sohail Afridi's brother, and carrying the cancelled licences, the 90 kg a month and Rs4.92 billion figures and the one-week ultimatum, none of which appeared in the Express News report. The two also differ on the state of the machinery: Express News described equipment already destroyed in operations, while Aaj News reported the governor giving contractors a week to remove it.
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