Humayun Khan
PESHAWAR: A writ petition filed before Peshawar High Court (PHC) seeking deal report regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s resources including oil, gas along with other mines and mineral as well as provincial expenditure while asking provision of both domestic and external debts record to be publish for public domain.
A senior lawyer Malak Muhammad Ajmal Khan filed writ plea in Anchorperson Hamid Mir along with Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Home& Tribal Affairs Department, Frontier Works Organization and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zone Development and Management Company were made respondents in the case.
The petitioner is resident of tribal area and member of both Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court Bar Associations, the petition stated.
The residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have right to be aware regarding income, expenditure and royalty received from federation as the province possessing several resources like copper, oil, gas and chromite, the writ argued.
The writ pleaded that local residents are deprived from their constitutional right of Right to Information as well as didn’t aware regarding income from natural resources situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
FWO Engineer Zeeshan revealed in an interview with Hamid Mir on Geo TV that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 2nd largest producer of Copper and 1.1 million ton has been extracted, the petition claimed.
The engineer claimed that Copper reservoirs stands at 3.5 million ton and its estimated value is six thousand billion US Dollar in which 22 thousand ton had extracted at the worth of 30/35 million Dollars in three years of mining started in 2019, the writ pleaded.
It is necessary for the public to be aware regarding legal status of FWO and $30/35 million income from copper? Because it is constitutional right of the citizen to be aware in this as well as the residents of any province holds first right over local natural resources, the writ argued.
In nutshell, it is obligatory that the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would aware about natural resources including copper, gas and oil as well as shares obtained from federation in royalty, the writ stated.
Constitution of Pakistan Article-3 argues for elimination of exploitation in every sphere as well as every citizen equal before so distribution of resources must be ensured on principal of equality. Moreover, the elite class is exploiting common man with different tactics and grabbed the natural resources, the petition argued.
PHC order submission of deal report about national debts in both domestic& dollar as well as provision of income along with expenditure of natural resources on daily, weekly, monthly and annual record for public domain. Early hearing in the upcoming days is expected on the plea in larger public interest.
