CHITRAL: Chitral Mines and Minerals Association on Wednesday demanded of the district administration to lift the ban on mining activities in the Arsoon area as the restriction had affected the livelihood sources of residents and incurred heavy losses on the leaseholders.

The demand was made at a meeting of the association.

The participants expressed concern over the ban and said that the border area was now secure and heavily guarded by the security forces and there was no danger of any terrorist activity here.

They said Chitral remained peaceful despite its close proximity to the war-torn Afghanistan. They pointed out that mining activities in the neighbouring Afghanistan were proceeding smoothly as a stable government had been established there, where Chinese investors had invested millions of dollars in the mining sector.

The association’s members said the non-renewal of mining licences under the guise of security risks had led to significant apprehensions within the mining community.

The participants said in Chitral’s history, there had never been an incident of explosives being smuggled to Afghanistan or elsewhere. They noted that given this track record, banning mining on the grounds of security, not issuing NOCs and cancelling gunpowder licences was incomprehensible. They pointed out that there was no requirement for obtaining a working NOC under the KP Minerals Act.

The participants said the ban on mining had led to leaseholders incurring daily losses amounting to millions of rupees.

Through a unanimously passed resolution, the meeting demanded of the district administration to immediately lift the ban and renew EL-04 licences of leaseholders.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2024