Reko Diq case: Supreme Court seeks lease documents from Balochistan government

Apex court aims to ascertain legality of contracts between Balochistan govt, mining companies.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has sought documents of the Reko Diq mining lease agreement from the Balochistan government to ascertain the legality of the contracts between the Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) and international mining companies on Tuesday.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing identical petitions against the Balochistan government’s decision to lease out gold and copper mines in Reko Diq in Chagai district to foreign companies.

Khalid Anwar, the counsel for Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (TCCP), asked why the BHP and the provincial government entered into a new agreement in 2000 over the Reko Diq mining lease when an original agreement, known as CHEVJA, had already been signed with the BHP in 1993 – this agreement was eventually bought by the TCC.



“Our interest is ensuring transparency in terms of law,” remarked Justice Chaudhry. “We do not go into issues pertaining to the transaction agreement between the parties. But we look into whether the agreements are valid,” he added.

Anwar also informed the court that as many as 10 prospecting licences were issued to the BHP while the TCCP had spent millions of dollars on compiling a project feasibility report – which would go to waste if the agreement with the TCCP was cancelled.

He also pleaded that no proficient engineer was available in Pakistan to handle the Reko Diq mining lease operation so his client had paid a huge amount of money to foreign engineers.



Justice Gulzar Ahmed pointed out that the agreement has been signed by the BDA, not by the Pakistan government. Anwar responded that many agreements are signed by either a section officer or a deputy secretary on behalf of the government and the BDA was authorised by the then provincial governor to do so in accordance with the law.

The chief justice replied that the agreement was made under the instructions of such a senior provincial functionary, but there was no mention of a date on the agreement and the governor cannot issue such directives to sign any addendum.

“Tell us the importance of this agreement under Pakistani law. We also need the validity of every document in this agreement,” Justice Chaudhry remarked. The bench asked Khalid Anwar to complete his arguments and adjourned the hearing of the case till today (Wednesday).

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2012.