Minerals association asks govt to provide facilities

BARA: Office-bearers of the Khyber Minerals Association, as well as local elders and political party leaders, have asked the government to provide facilities to the owners of mines in tribal districts.

The demand was made by President Khyber Mines Owners Association Asghar Khan Afridi while addressing a seminar on mineral resources and problems being faced in Khyber.

On the occasion, Bara Tehsil Chairman Mufti Muhammad Kafeel Afridi along with tribal elder Malik Waris Khan Afridi, President of Awami National Party Khyber Shah Hussain Shinwari, Central President of Khyber Union Pakistan Murad Saqi, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Wilayat Afridi, Malik Adam Khan, Pakistan Awami Inqilabi League (PAIL) president Attaullah Afridi and area elders also spoke on the occasion.

The speakers said that the merged districts were rich in mineral resources but due to the lack of facilities and the disinterest of the government, tribal people were not benefiting from the natural resources.

The speakers said that the tribals were already frustrated with the provincial government in terms of employment opportunities. “Now, we are trying to tap the treasure given to us by nature in the form of minerals because it has also been established in the tribal districts. The government should provide explosives to the mines’ owners and other facilities,” said a speaker.

They said that development in the mineral sector would lead to economic development in the tribal districts in particular and the country in general, which will usher in a new era of prosperity.

President Asghar Khan Afridi said that there are huge mineral reserves of the world’s most expensive natural resources in the tribal districts, particularly coal, fluorite, barite, marble and others are on top.