- Sh Waqas Akram says benefits from mineral and other natural resources be directed for sustainable development of Balochistan, KP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stressed the need for directing the financial benefits from mineral and other natural resources for sustainable development of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), especially the merged districts.
PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, in a statement on Thursday, emphasized that only an inclusive and equitable Pakistan can progress, warning that continued exploitation of these regions’ resources without fair returns fuels resentment and instability.
He stated that Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2025 (PMIF25) highlighted the discovery of hydrocarbons in KP and gold-copper deposits in Balochistan, yet there was no clear policy to ensure that these resources translate into prosperity for the local populations.
He urged that the power grabbers must ensure that the people of resource-rich regions were the primary beneficiaries of these hidden treasures, rather than filling their own coffers.
PTI CIS expressed grave concern that, despite being endowed with vast reserves of natural resources, Pakistan remains trapped in crippling foreign debt due to the short-sighted, flawed, and self-serving policies of a select few elites, who have multiplied their fortunes and built empires abroad at the expense of the nation’s poor over the past several decades.
Sh Waqas emphasized that the unrest in Balochistan and growing discontent in KP were the direct result of decades of colonial-style exploitation and mindset of corrupt ruling elite, where resources were extracted while local communities were denied their constitutional and rightful share.
He lambasted that the state’s failure to provide basic political and economic rights have fueled growing sense of alienation and deprivation in the resource-rich regions. He lamented, however, that rather than addressing legitimate grievances, the power usurpers had resorted to colonial-era tactics of oppression and suppression to silence dissenting voices.
He emphasized that the solution of Balochistan and KP was not rocket science, demanding immediate cessation of the failed 50-year policy of coercion and oppression, allow political activities so that the people can freely elect their genuine leadership. Most crucially, he stressed that these provinces must be granted rightful control over their natural resources, ensuring that the revenue generated from these projects is spent on their welfare, infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
Moreover, he stressed that all state institutions must confine their roles within constitutional boundaries and refrain from unjust transgressions and encroachments.
Regarding the canal project, PTI CIS stated that PML-N and PPP were playing a game of cat and mouse, as the project was launched with the tacit approval of Zardari. He added that PPP was complicit in the matter, bartering away of Sindh’s fundamental rights at the altar of power-sharing arrangements.
He emphasized that PPP leadership maintained deliberate silence until massive street protests erupted across Sindh, exposing their duplicity in the matter. PTI CIS stated that PPP could only issue threatening statements for public consumption, rather than taking any practical steps to block the project because its leadership was a partner in crime. Waqas stated that it was evident from Bilawal’s visit to Dubai, abandoning his ailing father, as he could not face the public wrath after they bartered away Sindh’s water rights for political gains.
