JUIF says mines bill attack on provincial autonomy

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) has rejected the proposed Mines and Minerals Bill-2025 and declared that it will resist the proposed legislation at every forum as it was a blatant attack on the provincial autonomy and rights.

Addressing a press conference after the party’s provincial executive council meeting, JUIF Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Senator Ataur Rahman said that they had moved a resolution against the draft bill in the Senate of Pakistan and would vehemently oppose the law in the provincial assembly.

The JUIF leader said that mines and minerals were a provincial subject and consultations should have been made over it in the province. But introducing a bill sent by the Centre over the issue was a blatant violation of the provincial rights, autonomy and the 18th Amendment. He said that JUIF had always struggled for provincial rights and it would continue doing so.

Senator Ataur Rahman said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government in the province was incompetent and incapable, which has already compromised the provincial rights and it was bent upon pushing the province to further decay. He said that consultation would also be made with other political parties to adopt a joint standpoint against the proposed law and protect the rights of the province.