Heated exchange in Punjab Assembly over Attock gold, landowner concerns

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly saw a heated exchange on Monday after Provincial Minister for Mines and Minerals Sher Ali Gorchani announced the discovery of gold in Attock, promising that any revenue generated would be used for the people of Punjab.

“Punjab’s assets belong to its people, and we will present the ground realities of this discovery to the nation,” he said, adding that the auction process for the resource would be conducted transparently.

The minister was responding to an adjournment motion moved by PTI MPA Qazi Ahmed Akbar, who sought details about earnings from the gold reserves and raised concerns about the treatment of local landowners.

Qazi alleged that instead of receiving royalties as required by law, landowners were being booked in cases for “creating obstructions in government duty”. He told Dawn that mine leaseholders should be made to compensate landowners rather than the latter being penalised.

In response, Gorchani launched a sharp attack on the opposition, asserting that the provincial government would not allow the kind of “looting and plunder” it claimed had taken place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, corruption would not be tolerated, adding that excavators had already been deployed near canal areas to secure the site. “We are currently estimating the total value of the gold deposits. One block of the Mines and Minerals Department has already proven successful,” he said.

Tensions escalated when opposition member Mian Asif Ali Bagga responded with a sarcastic remark targeting the chief minister, further intensifying the atmosphere in the House.

Amid the political back-and-forth, Deputy Secretary Zaheer Iqbal Channar informed the assembly that the Mines and Minerals Department had already generated billions of rupees in revenue for the provincial government.

The deputy speaker later intervened, assuring members that if any individual was being harassed or falsely implicated by the department, the minister would ensure that such cases were withdrawn.