QUETTA: Senior politician Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani has threatened to mobilize political parties against Balochistan’s Mines and Minerals Act, calling it a threat to provincial resources and future generations.
Addressing an emergency meeting at Sarawan House, the former senator expressed alarm at the “mysterious silence” following the assembly’s resolution to review the legislation. He announced plans to formally petition party leaders and parliamentary heads demanding an all-party conference on the issue.
“We fought politically for Saindak and Reko Diq to protect future generations,” stated Raisani. “Now we demand the Reko Diq agreement be made public and this new act be returned to the assembly for review.”
Citing the 1948 agreement between Khan of Kalat and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Raisani asserted Balochistan’s entitlement to control over its resources. He warned that the current legislation threatens to auction off the province’s mineral wealth, jeopardizing its economic future.
The politician vowed to continue his political struggle for Balochistan’s constitutional rights, urging either government-convened multiparty talks or permission to organize such a conference himself.
Recently a two-member bench of the Balochistan High Court, comprising Justice Muhammad Amir Nawaz Rana and Justice Sardar Ahmed Halimi, heard constitutional petitions filed by political leaders, including Nawabzada Haji Lashkari Raisani, challenging the recently passed Mines and Minerals Act of the Balochistan Assembly.
During the hearing, the court issued notices to the federal and provincial governments, the Minerals Department, and the Advocate General, and adjourned proceedings for two weeks.
Senior lawyers Muhammad Riaz Ahmed, Barrister Iqbal Kakar, and Syed Nazir Agha represented Raisani in court.
After the hearing, Syed Nazir Agha told the media that the Mines and Minerals Act was filed before the court two months earlier and has been contested on political and legal grounds.
The bench questioned whether the government had prepared its response, to which Additional Advocate General Zahoor Ahmed Baloch replied that the reply was still pending and that the matter was under discussion in the Assembly.
