PESHAWAR (The Thursday Times) — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Sunday that the people of the province have the first right to its resources, rejecting claims that its minerals would be handed to outsiders under governor’s rule.
“No one should think that foreigners will come and loot this province. Till I am here, the people of the province will have the first right to its resources,” Kundi told a ceremony in Peshawar. Outside investors, whether foreign or from elsewhere in Pakistan, could enter joint ventures with the people of the province if they wished, he said.
Kundi, who took administrative control of the province after governor’s rule and an emergency were imposed on October 11, said his first priority was the protection of KP’s people, then the province and then Pakistan. Without naming anyone, he said many reports were circulating in the media and on social media, after outlining the range of the province’s natural resources.
His remarks follow claims by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman that the emergency and governor’s rule were linked to a plan to take control of KP’s resources, and posts on social media alleging that the province’s minerals would be given or sold to the United States. The government has said the measures were needed to tackle the security situation and terrorism, and ministers have hit back at Fazl over his criticism. PTI’s KP lawmakers have meanwhile backed talks with the Centre to end governor’s rule.
