Proposed Mines and Minerals Bill rejected

LAKKI MARWAT: All Parties Conference here on Thursday rejected the proposed Mines and Minerals Bill, declaring it an attack on the 18th Amendment of the constitution and provincial autonomy.

The district chapter of Awami National Party had hosted the moot in Lakki Marwat City. The party’s ulema wing central secretary Maulana Khanzeb chaired the conference. The participants discussed the proposed bill in detail and said that any attempt to pass it would be an attack on the authority of the provincial assembly and natural resources.

They said that the formation of the special investment facilitation council was illegal and extra constitutional, making clear that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would not accept the bureaucracy’s control over their natural resources. The speakers said that the Mines and Mineral Bill was in conflict with the 18th Amendment to seize provincial autonomy and natural resources of the province.