Claim of military control of KP mineral resources unfounded

PESHAWAR: Amid growing political uproar and social media narratives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) regarding military involvement in the province’s mineral resources, official data reveals a different reality.

According to government records, over 4917 mining licences have been issued across KP. Out of these, only one licence has been granted to a military-affiliated organization — the Frontier Works Organization (FWO). This licence was issued in 2015 for the Boya area in North Waziristan, an underdeveloped and conflict-affected region where FWO has been involved in rehabilitation and infrastructure development.

A senior security official revealed that over the past year and a half, the Pakistan Army played a pivotal role in facilitating the cancellation of nearly 40 legal mining licences in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that were held by retired military officers and their close relatives. This move was aimed at addressing public concerns and countering negative propaganda. Currently, KP chief minister is reviewing more than 500 new mining licence applications, but the military or any military-affiliated institution has submitted none of these.

The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that “the rightful ownership of mineral resources lies with the people of KP, and provincial policy should reflect this through transparency and fairness in licencing. However, discrediting state institutions through baseless propaganda undermines national interest and distracts from real governance issues.”

In the current climate, where social media plays a powerful role in shaping public perception, it is essential to differentiate between verifiable facts and political rhetoric.

According to official data, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s mineral sector has seen significant expansion over the past decade, with 4,917 mineral titles granted and a steady rise in annual revenue, which reached a record Rs7.43 billion by mid-fiscal year 2024–2025. However, experts are questioning whether the province is realising the full potential of its mineral wealth.

According to official records of the Mineral Development Department (March 2025), KP had only 482 mineral titles in 2010, a number that increased sharply to 1,762 by 2020, and then 3,962 by February 2024. As of now, 4,917 licences have been granted — 4,133 in settled districts and 784 in merged districts, and 125 were issued before the merger.

However, record revealed that the revenue was just Rs2.17 billion in 2016–2017, Rs1.91 billion in 2017-18, Rs2.18 billion in 2018-19, Rs3.24 billion in 2019-20, Rs5.08 billion in 2020-21, Rs6.14 billion in 2021-22, Rs6.37 billion in 2022-23 and department’s income grew gradually to Rs6.4 billion in 2023–2024, with a notable jump to Rs7.43 billion in the current fiscal year, though this still falls short when compared to KP’s estimated reserves worth hundreds of billions of rupees.