Body formed for Reko Diq ‘pact’

Committee includes 18 members of Balochistan Assembly

QUETTA:

A special committee comprising 18 members of the Balochistan Assembly has been formed on the issue of the "proposed agreement" of the Reko Diq project.

The Balochistan Assembly had recently adopted a resolution on the Reko Diq copper-gold project. In the resolution, it was warned that no agreement about the future of Reko Diq would be accepted without taking Balochistan’s elected representatives and the provincial government on board.

The committee will present its report in the provincial assembly after raising the issue with the authorities concerned.

According to a notification issued by the Balochistan Assembly Secretary Tahir Shah Kakar, the resolution was passed by the members of the provincial assembly earlier this month. It was approved by the Balochistan government on a point of public importance.

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“Deep concern was expressed over non-consultation with the assembly on the proposed agreement on the Reko Diq project,” it read.

A special committee consisting of 18 members of the Balochistan Assembly has been set up keeping in view the proposal of the members of the assembly.

The body includes Provincial Planning and Development Minister Zahoor Ahmad Buledi, Leader of the Opposition Malik Sikandar Khan Advocate and MPAS Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, Malik Naseer Shahwani, Asghar Khan Achakzai, Assadullah Baloch and Abdul Khaliq Hazara. Nasrullah Khan Zira, Nawabzada Guhram Bugti, Sardar Masood Khan Loni, Syed Ehsan Shah, Naseebullah Marri, Akhtar Hussain Langu, Younis Aziz Zehri, Sanaullah Baloch and Zabid Ali Reki.

The Balochistan Assembly had passed a resolution demanding an in-camera briefing on any plans of the federal government to sign a deal on copper and gold mining at Reko Diq.

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The resolution was unanimously passed after the House was informed that the federal government was going to sign an agreement or a memorandum of understating on copper and gold mining without taking the Balochistan government and assembly into confidence.

The resolution was tabled by opposition member Mir Akhtar Hussain Langove of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M).

Langove said there were reports that the federal government was taking “illegal steps” to deprive the people of Balochistan of their natural resources and that in near future an agreement or a memorandum of understanding would be inked in Islamabad.